Princess Iron Fan is a character from the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West. She is the wife of the Bull Demon King and mother of Red Boy. She is one of the most popular Journey to the West villains, alongside her husband the Bull Demon King, her son the Red Boy, and Baigujing.

She was living in "Palmleaf Cave/Grotto" up on "Jade Cloud Mountain" awaiting her husband's return, but was also angry at him for his affair with a fox-spirit woman, Princess Jade Face. The Bull Demon King described his wife as an "immortal female with excellence in spiritual practice (female Xian)" and that she had "practiced self-cultivation since her youth".

She possessed the magical-treasure, the Banana Leaf Fan. The fan, made from banana leaves (not dissimilar to the Palm Leaf Fan, one of 5 sacred treasures of Daode Tianzun/Laozi), is extremely large and has magical properties; the novel describes the palm-leaf fan a spiritual treasure 'begotten' of Heaven and Earth at the back of Mount Kunlun at the time when chaos divided. It is a finest leaf of the "supreme yin", and that is why it can extinguish all fires, including the fires on the Flaming Mountains (the volcano that was created inadvertently by Wukong when he burst out of the aforementioned Laozi's Eight Trigrams Brazier 500 years earlier). The palm-leaf fan is also described as being-able to create giant whirlwinds, which, if a man is bodily fanned by it, he will "drift for eighty-four thousand miles before the cold wind subsides"; the only know thing immune to the fan's winds is a 'Wind-Arresting elixir' --a bead of which was loaned to Sun Wukong from the Boddhisatva, Lingji, who had originally gotten it from Tathāgata Buddha. Beside the Banana Leaf Fan, Princess Iron Fan also wields a pair of blue-bladed treasure swords.

Princess Iron Fan used the abilities of the fan to extort favors from the residents near the mountains: by fanning only once each time, the fire would only be extinguished for a year before starting again.

When Sun Wukong and his fellow pilgrims came to the region, they encountered an extremely hostile range of volcanic mountains that they could only pass if the volcanoes became inactive. Sun Wukong wanted to borrow her fan to subdue the Flaming Mountains, but she turned him down as the monkey had been on bad terms with her husband before. Sun Wukong, however, craftily transformed into a fly and flew into her mouth, down her throat, and into her soft belly.

Once inside, Sun Wukong kicked and punched Princess Iron Fan's guts until she was in so much pain that she gave him a fan. However, the fan turned out to be a fake fan which intensified the flames instead of putting them out. Having barely escaped from the fire, Sun Wukong returned, pretending to be her husband through shape shifting and obtained the real fan. Soon afterwards, the real husband came home; angry at what had happened, he pretended to be Zhu Bajie also through shape shifting and offered to carry the big fan. Lost in the moment of victory, Sun Wukong carelessly believed the Bull King and handed over the fan. Later, the Jade Emperor sent his heavenly troops to help Sun Wukong defeat Bull Demon King and Princess Iron Fan for good, and she was forced to give them the real fan. After using the fan to extinguish the fire on the Flaming Mountain, Sun Wukong forgave the princess and returned the fan to her. The princess continued her spiritual practice, and eventually achieved success.

All published appearances of Princess Iron Fan published before January 1, )-(95)}} are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

*Journey into the West

*Princess Iron Fan (1941): The film is in the public domain in Mainland China, Macao, and Taiwan because its 50-year copyright term (from the date of first publication) has expired under the respective copyright laws of those regions. However, it may still be under copyright in Hong Kong.

*In the Dragon Ball franchise, the Bull Demon King is referred to as the Ox King, is a human with incredible physical attributes, and is the father of the Iron Fan Princess instead of her husband, who is known as Chi-Chi.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Iron_Fan Wikipedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/princess-iron-fan/4005-172926/ ComicVine]
*Myths in Media Wiki
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