In the novel A Passage to India, a lowly fan-wafting punkah-wallah plays a mesmerising role in a crucial courtroom scene. 'Sending swirls of air over others, receiving none himself, he seemed,' E.M. Forster writes, 'a winnower of souls.'
If they were serious about separating the wheat from the chaff, our environmental-protection sages would do well to tout the benefits of ceiling fans, which can cut cooling and heating (reversing the direction of the blades sends heat that has risen back to floor level) bills. Even without a campaign to raise its status, however, the fan club seems to be growing.
It's about time. Although a common fixture in other oppressively hot climes, these effective air-movers have often been an afterthought in Hong Kong. Which is not surprising in our Lilliputian apartments, many bearing ceiling heights as meagre as 240cm, sometimes lower.
At 1,500 square feet, the new shop is twice the size of the original and will display 50-plus models, double the number now on show. That includes the Punkah (above; HK$14,000 for three blades), the palm-leaf Caruso, in antique brass and pewter (HK$7,560), and the chrome, brushed-nickel or bronze Melody Wall Fan (HK$2,750), which suits small, squat rooms.
After all the hot air about energy conservation, an answer may be blowing in the wind.
