Wahson Fans of Shanghai

Posted: June 27th, 2026 | No Comments »

Anyone who ever wandered the old flea markets of outer Shanghai or the more organised tourist markets such as the old Dongtai Lu (now destroyed) may have bought beautiful old Swan brand electric fan. Swan desktop fans were popular in Shanghai, imported from Britain and made by Bulpitt & Sons Ltd of Birmingham under the Swan brand (registered 1868). Bulpitt and the Swan brand have gone through multiple owners since, so many I’ve lost track, but the brand is still around and still making desktop fans. Competing with Swan was GE, from America, also popular and also regularly to be found in old Shanghai markets. Most I found could be rewired and worked perfectly well.

But there was a local competitor, Wahson, founded by Shanghai businessman Yang Jichuan and which produced the first domestically-made electric fans in China and who claimed to export to over 90 countries by 1924.

Wahson Electronic appeared around 1916 with a factory in Hongkou. They were a Chinese-owned business and manufactured small electrical items, most popularly desk top fans, similar in design (if not actually identical and reverse engineered) to the Swan brand. The company is still in existence and still makes ceiling fans though no longer desktops. Still, their desktop fans were things of beauty too and probably essential in any Shanghai office or home in the summers…..

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