Weifang Kite Festival Weifang kite allusions and legends

Kites are called "paper kites" in northern China and "harriers" in southern China. The name "kite" began in the Five Dynasties (907-960 A.D.) According to the Ming Dynasty's Lang Ying's "Inquiring Hungarian Records", a man named Li Ye in the Five Dynasties made paper kites in the palace, which led to the wind as a play, and tied bamboo whistles to the heads of the kites, which made a sound like a "kite" when the wind went into them. When the kite was released, the wind entered the bamboo whistle and made a sound like "kite", so it was named "kite".

How was the kite invented? Some people say that our ancestors were inspired by the wind blowing hats and leaves, some say that they were inspired by sails or tents, and some say that they were inspired by flying birds. However, the fact that the earliest kites appeared in China is the unanimous public opinion of the international kite flying community. The famous ancient Chinese philosopher Mo Zhai (468-376 B.C.) lived in Lushan (southwest of present-day Weifang Qingzhou, Shandong Province) when he "chopped wood for harriers, three years and become, fly a day and defeat. This is the world's earliest kite, unique craftsmanship now has a history of more than 2,300 years. Later, Mo Zhai passed the method of making wooden harriers to his student Gong输班 (also known as Lu般, Lu Ban), who improved it and used bamboo as the material to make "bamboo magpies", which could fly in the air for three days. Gongshou Ban also "made a wooden kite to spy on the city of Song" and used the kite for military purposes. Early kites were also used to transmit news and measure wind power. According to <<Dui Yi Zhi>> records, too clear three years (549 AD) Liang Wu Di was rebel Hou Jing trapped in Nanjing near the city of Taicheng, Jane female offer to make a paper kite to hide the imperial edict in the air to send a letter to seek reinforcements, due to the kite by the enemy to shoot down and not fruitful.

The kite as a recreational tool, from about the Tang Dynasty. In 713 A.D., Tang Xuanjun Li Longji watched the flying of "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" kites in Yichun Yuan of Penglai Palace in Shandong Province. The <<Xuanhe Kite Spectrum>>of Song Dynasty has many records of the emperors and nobles enjoying kites. Due to the emergence of papermaking, kites were made of papier-maché, which greatly reduced the cost and soon spread to the people. Since then, with international exchanges, kites have spread to all over the world. The famous British scholar Joseph Lee in <<History of Science and Technology in China>> in the kite as one of the major scientific inventions spread by the Chinese nation to Europe. Just as a foreign kite expert said: "Chinese people invented the kite two thousand years ago, which is recognized by the world. The kite aroused mankind's reverie of flying into the sky, leading to the invention of the world's first real airplane." The advancement of time has led to a change in the role of kites. In history, the use of kites has been converted many times, and its initial function was said to be for military use, as mentioned in many historical materials: Han general Han Xin once flew a kite into the air to calculate the distance to the Weiyanggong Palace based on the length of the kite's flying line. In the history books, it has been recorded that in 559 AD, Emperor Wenxuan of Qi ordered the prisoners to take the kite and fly down from the Golden Wind Platform which was eight zhang (about 26 meters high, 12 meters high in the present day), and those who were able to fly out of the city could be pardoned for their deaths. Prisoners were eager to survive, "each by paper owl to fly". As a result, one of the prisoners named Huangtou succeeded in gliding on the kite and floated safely to a place called Zimo outside the city, but was later arrested and died of starvation in the prison (see <> Volume 19 of the Biography of the Six Kings of Xianwen>>).

According to this legend, it can be speculated that the kites before the Tang Dynasty were mostly larger in size and could be used for manned flights, and whether they were successful or not is another story, but it can only be assumed that the technology of flying them was already mature. (New Tang Book Tian Yue biography) also recorded that in the second year of Tang Jianzhong (781 AD), Tang general Zhang Pi was trapped by the rebel Tian Yue's army in Linnian, the situation was critical, Zhang Pi "anxious to paper for the wind kite", on which there was a book of "three days do not dissolve, Linnian and for Yue food", the wind kite After the kite ascended into the sky, it was "a hundred feet high, over the camp of Yue", and Tian Yue ordered the good shooters to shoot it, but they could not reach it, and the letter of help was finally sent by the kite to the reinforcement army, and thus the siege was lifted. By the middle of Tang Dynasty, it entered a prosperous and stable development stage, the function of kites began to shift from military use to entertainment, and at the same time, due to the development of the paper industry, the production material of kites also began to use paper from silk. Kites went to the folk and there were more types of kites. Yuan Zhen, a poet of the Middle Tang Dynasty (779-831 A.D.), wrote in his aria 〈有鸟二十章 纸鸢〉: "There are birds and there are groups of birds and paper kites, and because of the wind and the false momentum the children are holding them" (for the full text of this, see the kite poems section). Some other poets also wrote poems about kites in their Tang poems. Through these documents, we can see the situation of kite flying activities in the Shengtang period.

During the Song Dynasty, kites were more widely spread. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was an enthusiastic advocate of kites. In addition to flying his own kites in the palace, he is said to have compiled a book, 〈Xuanhe风筝谱〉. With the participation of the literati, the kites were greatly developed in terms of making and decorating. At that time, kites had become common toys for children. Children's kite flying had become a scene in the countryside in spring. Meanwhile, due to the demand for kites in the society, making kites became a specialized occupation. In addition, there also appeared a kind of professional who specialized in flying kites, "Kite Flyer". At that time, many painters were happy to take the theme of kite flying into their paintings. The paintings of Guo Zhongshu, a famous painter and writer of the Song Dynasty, were very popular.

And in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development of kites reached its peak. Since the era is not too far away from today, there are quite a lot of documents with records about kites. The kites of the Ming and Qing dynasties have made great progress than before in terms of size, style, tying technology and decorative flying techniques. The decorative techniques of kites in the Ming and Qing dynasties were also richer than in the past. Kites and various folk crafts began to combine organically. At that time, the New Year's paintings workshop also used woodblock New Year's paintings to print kite paper, and the decorative techniques and materials used by civil paper-tying artists were diversified: there were stickers, paper-plastic reliefs, paper cuttings, depictions of gold and silver, and addition of paper flowers, etc. The sound devices were also developed. There is also a development in the sound device, in addition to the past loud bow, "and bamboo reed stick spring, binding the harrier's back, due to the wind broadcast loud, said 'harrier whip'", in the coastal area, there are gourds, white fruit shells made of whistles, number, size varies mounted on the kite, pronunciation The sound is so majestic that it can be heard for miles around. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many literary scholars and painters also used kites as the theme to compose poems and paintings, leaving behind a lot of masterpieces. Xu Wei (1521-1593 AD), a painter of the Ming Dynasty, painted many kite paintings in his later years and inscribed many poems on kite paintings, more than 30 of which were counted by later generations. There were also kite-flying as the theme in Yangjiabu and Yangliuqing New Year paintings. At that time, many literati also hand-painted kites, in addition to their own flying, but also presented to friends, and thought it was a very elegant thing. Cao Xueqin, the writer of Dream of Red Mansions, was the most representative among them. He in his work 〈South Harrier North Kite Kao Gong Zhi〉 on the kite for an extremely detailed introduction, according to rumors in this book introduced 43 kinds of kite making techniques.

In recent times, especially in the last twenty years, the kite business in China has been developed greatly. Kites have begun to be popularized as a sport and a fitness and leisure recreational activity, and kite competitions at home and abroad have promoted the popularity of kites as an activity. More and more people begin to join in this activity. With a long history and exquisite craftsmanship, the Yangliuqing New Year's Painting of the Qing Dynasty, "Ten Beauties Flying Kites", can confirm that there are ten kinds of kites such as stringed lanterns, pan eagles, monks fetching scriptures, butterflies and so on.

The late Wei Yuantai, a kite maker, made a great contribution to the kite making technology in Tianjin. He has been engaged in kite making for more than 70 years, and has developed the flat clap type, round three-dimensional type and soft-winged kites, and also created the folded-winged kites. His coloring is rich in national characteristics, and he has absorbed the haloing method used in ancient architectural paintings, as well as the contrast between warm and cold tones, making them more suitable for high-altitude flying. His work won the gold medal at the Panama World Expo in 1914, which won the honor for Tianjin kites.

Tianjin kites represented by "Kite Wei" have realistic shapes, elegant colors and fine workmanship. Most of the kites are made of silk, which is light and strong, and the skeleton is made of bamboo with fine texture, long joints and high elasticity, which is made of very exquisite materials, beautifully modeled and beautifully painted, so that the kites are pleasing to the eyes when they are flying in the clear sky, and they can be put indoors for enjoyment, and they are the treasures of folk craftsmanship. It is rumored to have a history of more than three hundred years. The Qing Dynasty Beijing Years and Seasons Records of Victory recorded that at that time, men and women in the city "carried paper kites with them" and released them after sweeping the graves at the Ching Ming Festival. The recent Shen Tai like "spring bright picking wind Zhi" contains: "often line sand swallow, one foot to zhang two, folding bamboo frame, as swallow fly style, paper mache, painted blue, in the press line three, the big back with organ or peace gongs and drums, to rope around the wind put up, day and day line, night line red light, children tilt their heads to chase, in order to drain the internal accumulation of heat, cover the intention. Above three feet, there are different patterns, such as Na Tcha, Liu Hai, Haha three saints, two people playing, centipedes, catfish, butterflies, dragonflies, three suns, seven magpies, and so on. The most strange ones are the eagle and the eagle style, a line flying in the air, which can be seen from a distance and is very realistic." The basic forms of Beijing kites are hard wing, soft wing, platoon, long string and barrel shape.