What is a kite that flies hopes and dreams?

Kites are also known as "paper kites", "wind kites" and "wooden kites". It is called "paper kite" in the north and "harrier" in the south, which is named because the kite spreads its wings like a harrier eagle and hovers in the sky. Kites first originated in China. There are two ways of saying about the origin of kites: one is invented by the ancient philosopher Mo Zhai. After three years of research, Mo Zhai finally made a wooden bird out of wood, but it broke down after only one day of flying. Legend has it that this is the earliest kite in China. The second was invented by Lu Ban, a skilled craftsman in China during the Spring and Autumn Period. It is said that Lu Ban was inspired by seeing the harrier eagle hovering in the sky, and had "cut the bamboo for the harrier and flew it for three days". After the invention of papermaking in the Han Dynasty, the kite was made of papier-maché, commonly known as the "paper kite". To the Fifth Dynasty, Li Ye to improve, in the paper kite head mounted bamboo flute, the breeze blowing, buzzing, like the sound of the kite, so named "kite".

After the invention of the kite, it was soon used to convey messages and other military needs. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, society entered a prosperous and stable stage of development, and the role of kites began to shift from military use to entertainment. At the same time, due to the progress of the paper industry, kites were changed from silk to papier-maché, and gradually went to the folk, and the types were diversified. By the Song Dynasty, kite flying had become a popular recreational activity for urban and rural residents, not only the children in the city and the common people loved it, but even the emperors and generals, princes and nobles also enjoyed it. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, kite flying reached its heyday. At that time, the literati hand-painted kites, in addition to their own flying, but also presented to friends and relatives, and considered it a particularly elegant activity. Cao Xueqin of the Qing Dynasty was an expert in making kites. He wrote the book "South Harrier and North Kite Kao Gong Zhi", which was a collection of ancient Chinese kites, paste, paint, and put the four arts of the great success of the kites in the north and south of all over the kites painted with colorful drawings, and equipped with ballads. This work of Cao's became a guide for making kites in Beijing and Tianjin, and played a great role in promoting the development of kites.

During the development stage of kites, traditional Chinese culture with a long history began to combine with kite craftsmanship, displaying mythological stories, birds, flowers and auspicious symbols on kites, thus forming a kite culture with unique local characteristics.

Weifang, Shandong Province, the hometown of Mo Zhai, one of the inventors of kites, is a famous kite production area in China, and kite-making artists have appeared in folklore in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, with the prevalence of kite-flying customs, the art of kite-flying also reached its heyday. Zheng Banqiao wrote a poem: "Paper flowers like snow fly all over the sky, and the delicate girl swings to play all around. Flying colorful skirt swinging in the wind, so the butterfly will fight for the spring return." At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Weifang had formed a specific kite market, and merchants from many parts of the country came to purchase kites. For a time, "the pattern is new to attract customers, double butterflies kite into line", but also appeared a large number of highly skilled kite artists.

Weifang kites mainly have three basic shapes: string, hard wing and simple shape, among which the dragon centipede is the most famous. It is said to have been made inspired by the keeled waterwheel. Now it has developed into many varieties, the small one can be placed on the palm, and the big one is several hundred meters long; the shape and color are different, from the very simple centipede kite with white paper pasted on the body, red paper pasted on the head, without drawing a stroke or dyeing a color, to the nine-headed dragon kite with rich colors and painted gold and silver. It can be said that there are thousands of variations, and there are hundreds of strange and clever.

The long string kites in Weifang have many different themes besides centipede. For example: "Liangshan one hundred single eight generals" is the Liangshan one hundred and eight heroes to do different forms, life-like, put on the sky to form a line, each holding a blade, dancing with the wind. At this time you may vaguely feel the war drums urging, as if they are about to set off to attack the enemy army ......

Now Weifang has become the designated venue for the International Kite Festival. On the basis of inheriting the traditional essence of modern kites, the pattern is constantly renovated, winning the reputation of "kite art, Weifang first".

Auspicious symbols

Influenced by Chinese traditional culture, traditional kites are full of auspicious symbols and patterns: "Fortune and Longevity", "Dragon and Phoenix", "Hundred Butterflies in Spring", "Hundreds of Butterflies in Spring", "Lucky Kites", "Lucky Kites", "Lucky Kites", "Lucky Kites", "Lucky Kites", "Lucky Kites", and "Auspicious Kites". Spring", "Carp jumps over the Dragon Gate", "Ma Gu Xian Shou", "Hundred birds facing the phoenix", "Fish in a row", "Four Seasons of Peace", etc., which reflects people's longing and desire for a better life.

Auspicious patterns use figures, beasts, flowers, birds, artifacts and other images and some auspicious words, folk proverbs, auspicious words and mythological stories as the theme, through metaphor, simile, pun, symbol and harmonic expression methods, constituting "an auspicious word a pattern" form of art, given to seek auspicious auspiciousness, the meaning of elimination of disasters and avoidance of difficulties, to send people's hopes for happiness, longevity and happiness, and to make people happy. It is a form of art that gives the meaning of seeking good fortune, eliminating disasters and avoiding difficulties, and sends people's good wishes for happiness, longevity and festivity. It is a metaphor for things, the scene of things into one, so the theme is clear and prominent, cleverly conceived, interesting, rich in unique style and distinctive national colors. For example, the figure of a pair of phoenix birds flying against the sun is called "Double Phoenix Sunrise". It is rich in symbolism and colorful patterns, which expresses people's healthy and enterprising spirit and the pursuit of a better life. Chinese auspicious motifs are rich in content, most of them are "seeking good fortune", "longevity", "festive", "auspicious" and so on. The content of most of the designs is rich.

Seeking happiness

People have the same pursuit of happiness. Bat and "all the blessings", "all the rich" consonant, although its image is not good, but the people through the full embellishment, or as a symbol of "blessings" of auspicious patterns. Kites with bats as motifs abound. For example, in the traditional Beijing Shayan kite, the "Fuyan" kite is represented by a beautifully embellished bat painted on the entire wing. Other kites with symbolic meanings include: "Fortune in Fortune", "Fortune in Sight", "Five Fortunes Offering Longevity", "Five Fortunes Holding Longevity "Five Fortunes in Fortune", "Fortune in sight", "Five Fortunes for Longevity", "Five Fortunes for Longevity", "Five Fortunes for Longevity" and so on. Auspicious patterns and kites related to "fish" and "Ruyi" include: "Fish for many years", "Joyful surplus ", "Carp Jump Dragon Gate", "All Things Ruyi", "Surely Ruyi", "Safe Ruyi " etc.

Longevity

Since ancient times people have wished for a long and healthy life. There are a lot of motifs that symbolize and glorify longevity: the evergreen pine and cypress, the crane and the colorful ribbon bird that are said to be able to enjoy thousands of years of life, as well as the "immortal grass" Ganoderma lucidum and the immortality of the Queen Mother of the West's peaches, which can make a person live forever.

There are more than 300 ways to write the character for longevity, which is extremely varied. There are more than 300 ways to write the character "longevity", and there are many variations of the character. Auspicious patterns and kites related to this character include: "Lucky Cloud and Crane Longevity", "Eight Immortals Celebrate Longevity", and so on.

Happy

Expresses people's good, pleasant and happy mood. The character "喜" has a number of glyphs, and "嚣" is a common pattern for celebrations. Magpie is a "sign" of joy, kites have "happy" kites, "clamor" kites, etc. Related kites and auspicious patterns are: "happy", "double", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy", "happy" and "happy". ", "Double Happiness", "Joyful Celebration", "Fortune, Longevity and Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness", "Double Happiness" and "Double Happiness". ". Joyful patterns are quite interesting, there are a hundred butterflies, a hundred birds, a hundred flowers, a hundred auspicious, a hundred longevity, a hundred blessings, a hundred joys and other patterns, such as "a hundred birds facing the phoenix".

The kites with the pattern of mandarin ducks symbolize a happy marriage and harmony between husband and wife.

Auspiciousness

Dragons, phoenixes and unicorns are the auspicious animals in people's fantasies. It is especially worth mentioning about the dragon. China is a country that worships the dragon, which has a special meaning in our country and is regarded as a symbol of the ancient Chinese civilization. Traditional auspicious motifs composed of auspicious birds and beasts and other objects include: "Dragon and Phoenix", "Two Dragons Playing with Pearls", "Colorful Phoenix", "Hundred Birds Towards Phoenix" and so on. Birds of the Phoenix" and so on.

Classification of kites

The development of kites has been increasing day by day, and the patterns are constantly being renovated, forming a set of unique painted patterns and patterns, which has become a part of China's traditional arts and crafts. From the appearance, it can be roughly divided into three kinds: animals, such as eagles, phoenixes, petrels, butterflies, dragonflies, bats, etc.; characters, mostly from myths, legends and literature, such as the White Maiden, the Heavenly Maiden, the Sun Wukong, Zhong Kui, the Seven-Pinned Sesame Official, the Fat Doll, etc.; objects, such as palace lanterns, vases, flower baskets, vegetables and fruits, the sun, the moon and the stars, etc..

From the structural point of view, kites can be divided into three kinds: plane, relief and three-dimensional. Plane kites use less material, easy to make, easy to popularize. Such as: gossip, seven houses, boats, fish and so on belong to this kind. The relief kites are well-made and can be folded and disassembled, mostly for flying birds, such as eagles and butterflies. Three-dimensional kite production is relatively complex, divided into tube and string two kinds: tube such as lanterns, vases, etc.; string such as the "Dragon Entertainment Centipede", by the three-dimensional head and hundreds of waist joints and become, up to hundreds of meters long, flying up in the air, very spectacular.

Making Methods

The traditional Chinese kite-making techniques are summarized in only four words: tying, gluing, painting and releasing. It is called "four arts" for short. That is to say, to tie the frame, to paste the paper surface, to paint the flowers and colors, and to fly the kite. "Tying" includes: selecting, splitting, bending, cutting, and connecting; "gluing" includes: selecting, cutting, gluing, edging, and schooling; and "painting" includes: color, base, tracing, dyeing, and repairing; "Put" includes: wind, line, put, adjust, close.