Types and characteristics of traditional kites

In ancient times, kites can be divided into six categories according to their shapes, namely, free kites, fighting kites, three-dimensional kites, board kites, dragon kites, hard-winged kites, soft-winged kites and so on.

Free category is also a cross-category kite. Its style is free, and many new technologies are adopted, such as "Queqiao Club", which combines several methods such as string, three-dimensional and board. There are also "Liangshan Hundred Generals" and "Birds at the Phoenix". They can not only turn around in the wind, but also beat gongs and drums and smoke. It's amazing.

A bucket kite is a kite composed of one or more buckets or buckets of other shapes. Lanterns, vases, rockets, wine bottles and other kites all belong to this category.

A three-dimensional kite is similar to a bucket kite. They generally adopt a skeleton with a folded structure, consisting of one or more round barrels or barrels of other shapes, but they look much more stereoscopic.

Flat kites are also called flat kites. In terms of structure and shape, its lifting plate is the main body, and there is no protruding structure. This kind of kite is supported by bamboo strips on all sides. This kind of kite is the most common, easy to tie, and has good flying performance, which is suitable for expressing various themes. It is the favorite and commonly used one of the ancients.

Board kites, also known as "flapping kites" in ancient Beijing and Tianjin, are octagonal or ladybug-shaped. These kites usually have long tails or ears, which is very helpful for their take-off.

Hard-winged kites are commonly found in Yuanbao and Shayan kites, both of which belong to this category. This kind of kite is characterized in that its wings are made of two horizontal bamboo strips, which are high on both sides and concave in the middle to form a ventilation channel.

The end of this kite's wing leans backward, allowing the wind to escape from the end of the wing, which looks like an ingot horizontally. Such as popular rice characters, flower baskets, mandarin ducks, magpies and parrot kites. The hard wing of this kind of kite is generally fixed, but the shape and skeleton structure outside the hard wing range change with the content and theme.

Soft-winged kites are also common bird kites. The ancients changed the traditional butterfly wings that were separated up and down into movable wings, and then fixed them with wooden frames, which was easy to fold and the flying effect was very realistic. This kind of wings are relaxed one by one, which greatly ensures the stability of the kite.