Why is kite flying a traditional culture?

Kites were invented by the Chinese more than 2000 years ago. Around the 12th century A.D., Chinese kites were introduced to the West, and since then, through continuous development, they have gradually formed a distinctive kite culture of the East and the West. In the process of kite development, the traditional Chinese culture with a long history began to integrate with kite crafts, and mythological stories, birds and animals, auspicious symbols and other expressions on the kites, thus forming a unique local characteristics of the kite culture.

There have been many times in history that the use of kites has changed. According to historical records, the initial function of kites was for military use. In the middle of Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the society entered a prosperous and stable stage of development, and the function of kites began to shift from military to recreation, meanwhile, due to the development of the paper industry, the material of kites was changed from silk to paper. The kites gradually went to the folk, and the types of kites were also enriched. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), kites were more widely spread. At that time, due to the participation of the literati, kites were greatly developed in terms of making and decorating. Meanwhile, due to the demand for kites in the society, kite-making developed into a specialized profession.　　The Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911 AD) was the heyday of Chinese kite development. The kites of the Ming and Qing Dynasties made great progress beyond the previous generations in terms of size, style, tying techniques, decoration and flying skills. At that time, the literati made and painted kites with their own hands, and in addition to flying them themselves, they also gave them to their friends and relatives and regarded them as an extremely elegant activity. In recent years, China's kite-flying business has developed greatly, and kite-flying has begun to be popularized as a sport and a fitness and recreational activity.

China's kite art not only has a long history due to the long tradition of national culture, but also has its own rich and colorful regional culture, which is inextricably linked with music, dance, drama, folklore and religion of various historical periods, regions and nationalities. There are several reasons why kites are a kind of culture:

One is that kites reflect the long history of folk culture. Folk culture is an important part of the whole culture and a folk social phenomenon. Kites, as a folk phenomenon, its formation and development are not isolated, but inextricably linked with many folk phenomena and greatly influenced by folk culture. This is not only manifested in the theme of kites, but also in the flying of kites.

Animals are an important theme of kites, such as dragon kites, phoenix kites, crane kites, peacock kites, eagle kites, swallow kites, mandarin duck kites, butterfly kites, unicorn kites, lion kites, zodiac kites, fish kites and so on. Fish kites and so on. The emergence of a large number of kites with animal themes, it should be said, is inseparable from the animal worship. For example, the emergence of "dragon" kites and "phoenix" kites is, to be exact, a concrete manifestation of people's worship of "dragon" and "phoenix". The appearance of "dragon" and "phoenix" kites is, to be exact, a concrete manifestation of people's worship of "dragon" and "phoenix". Dragon, is a fantasy animal, one of the four legendary spirits, is in charge of rain God, can bring people auspicious, with the power of change. In the ancient myths, people associate the image of the Yellow Emperor with the dragon. Zuo Zhuan. In the 17th year of the reign of Zhaogong, it is written that "the Taihao clan (Fuxi) was known as the Dragon Master, so he was given the name of Dragon Master.

In the traditional kites, about myths, ghosts, gods and goddesses of the kites are many, there are Ma Gu Xianshou, Ma Gu riding the phoenix, the Eight Immortals across the sea, the Kuixing point Scholar, the birthday star, which appeal to haunt the sea, the heavenly maiden, Chang'e to the moon, the carps jumped Dragon Gate, bell ill at ease, Liu Hai play support, Lei Zhenzi, etc. These kites, or from the dragon, so the dragon is the most important thing to do. These kites, or take material from the ancestral spirit beliefs in the gods, ghosts, or take material from the ancestral spirit beliefs associated with the myth, or from folklore stories, all closely related to faith and folklore. For example, Magu is a mythological female immortal, Jin. Ge Hong's "Biography of the Immortals" records: Magu, Jianchang people, cultivation Mouzhou southeast of the Gouyu Mountain, the Eastern Han Dynasty Huan Di was called, descended to the compilation of the family, eighteen years, nine, and can throw rice into a bead. Legend has it that she made wine on the banks of the Beeju River to celebrate the birthday of the Queen Mother. Therefore, people use Magu as a symbol of beauty and longevity. Women celebrating their birthdays are often depicted with the image of Magu, which is called "Magu's Birthday Presentation". Shouken, also known as ＼1 Antarctic Elder, is the god of longevity. According to the legend, if you see one side of it, you will have peace of mind, so you have to pray for good luck and longevity.

The second is that the kite reflects the rich connotation of folk art such as opera and New Year's paintings. The names of some kites are the names of some operas or New Year's paintings. Many operas and New Year's paintings have been circulating in the society for many years and are loved by the people, so it is natural or inevitable to transplant the contents and even the names of these operas and New Year's paintings to the kites. For example, "New Spring Cow" kite. The kites of "Crane and Deer in the same spring" and "Auspicious celebration", etc., from the contents to the names are all from New Year's paintings. The kites of "The Legend of the White Snake", "Hsu Hsien's Journey to the Lake", "The Red Maiden's Passing on the Book", "Wang Xiao Cu Fei", and "Zhao Xiao Cu Fei" are all New Year's paintings. The kites of "Zhaojun's Exodus" and "Yaochi's Meeting" are all directly related to the opera. Kites also have a close relationship with local painting, sculpture and clay art. It can be said that the painting of kites is a replica of the local painting art, and the modeling art of kites and the modeling art of clay, sculpture and so on are in the same line. For example, Yangjiabu kites in Weifang City are actually Yangjiabu wooden kites. The combination of the painting art of woodblock prints, the modeling art of folk clay sculpture and the art of kite making, people will print good woodblock prints, cut and paste them on the bundled kite skeleton, and a kite will be made.

Third, kites have a long history. Weifang and Beijing, Tianjin, Nantong is the country's four major kite producing areas, in 1984, Weifang Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government initiated and organized the first Weifang International Kite Fair, and the first of April each year as the Weifang Kite Festival, by the Municipal People's Congress through the form of legislation to give recognition to the flying of kites has become a major event in the lives of people. They also centered on the theme of kites, and carried out a lot of social propaganda work in an all-round and multi-faceted way, inviting a large number of Chinese and foreign journalists to the meeting to cover the event during the kite-flying festival, and making sufficient news reports, which effectively enlarged the influence of kites and strengthened the people's interest in kites. They also opened up a thousand-mile folk tourism line, so that the kite-flying folk activities and a variety of folk activities combined, cross-corresponding, complement each other.

Fourth, kite flying has become a national folklore activity. This folk phenomenon in the country is more common in the "South Harrier North Yuanyuan" said. Due to the different production conditions and production methods between regions, the influence of many local folk events, folk culture and geographic constraints, the formation of obvious local characteristics, not only in the kite theme, modeling, painting, tying technology, but also in the kite flying motives. For example, in the high sky where ten thousand kites are flying, an insider can tell which is an oriental kite and which is a western kite, which is a Chinese kite and which is a Japanese kite, which is a Beijing kite and which is a Weifang kite at a glance. In China, the season of kite flying is also influenced by the seasonal folklore, with kite flying around the Chongyang Festival in the south and around the Qingming Festival in the north. As for the motivation of kite flying, there are different, Weifang people flying kites to figure out a lucky peace, Beijing and Tianjin people flying kites, there is a "bad luck" said.