Fly a kite in this lovely springtime

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‍On a good spring day, as warm sunshine wakes you up and the wind whispers in your ears, are you eager to go out to flex your muscle?

Sure, you may want to try outdoor activities after a long winter. But you definitely should not miss the thrill of flying a kite, a spring-time tradition that has been kept alive for 2,000 years.

On April 20, more than 800 professional competitors from 65 countries and regions participated in the world kite championship in Weifang, east China's Shandong Province.

A 3,000-square-meter kite was crowned the world's biggest.

Spanish competitors used a kite to give a bullfight performance and Portuguese raise up a huge rooster on rooster-shaped China.

A rooster kite is flown during a kite-flying competition in Weifang, Shangdong Province, April 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

The annual Weifang International Kite Festival, the world's largest of its kind, also drew many non-professionals flying kites for fun.

A national intangible cultural heritage

It has been commonly recognized that the kite originated in China more than 2,300 years ago, when philosopher Mo Di, better known as Mozi, who lived in where Weifang is located today, was recorded to spend three years in making a "bird" out of wood and flying it for a day before it fell down.

Mozi then taught the know-how of making a “wood bird” to his student Lu Ban, who was later hailed as the god of Chinese craftsman. Lu replaced the wood with bamboo, and the “bamboo bird” was able to fly as long as three days. The authorities of the time then sought to use the “bamboo bird,” or kite as we call it today, militarily, such as in measuring distance and conveying news.

It was not until the Tang Dynasty (618-907) that the kite was used for entertainment. Because of the popularity of paper, common people were able to make kites with paper instead of expensive silk, and the kite became varied in style, manufacturing methods and decorations.

A competitor flies a butterfly-image kite in Weifang, Shandong Province, April 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

Of the variety of creative decorations, the whistle is exceptionally fun. Fixing a whistle on the back of a kite, a whistling sound will ring out when the kite flies in the sky.

Nowadays, kite craftsmanship is still developing. Represented by kites from different styles across China including Weifang, Nantong, Lhasa, Beijing and Tianjin, the craftsmanship was inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.

Four skills in making a kite

To make a kite of your own style, you have to master four skills: tie, paste, paint and fly.

A man shows his award-winning kites at his home in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, December 5, 2018. /VCG File Photo

The skeleton of the Weifang kite is usually made of bamboo. The process of tying the skeleton includes selecting bamboo, cutting bamboo, bending bamboo strips and knotting Bamboo strips.

Different kinds of kites require different skeletons. Some have bamboo strips as their core bone, some have bamboo strips shaping the outline, and some have bamboo strips to construct a three-dimensional skeleton.

Then, you have to choose which material is pasted on the skeleton as cover. Silk can present the lightness of a dragonfly-image kite, while paper is suitable to make a strong eagle-image kite. So the cover's material depends on what image, whether it is an animal or a geometric figure, you want to make.

The size of the cover is usually larger than the skeleton, because you have to paste the edge of the cover onto the bamboo skeleton, and you can also cut off the extra cover part off according to your design.

A competitor flies a three-dimentional kite in Weifang, Shandong Province, April 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

Painting, the third step, makes your kite come alive. Artistic images and loud colors pose an impressive visual effect against the blue sky. Weifang people creatively combine New Year paintings with kites, making them more culturally rich.

If the kite is ready, it is the time for a trial fly. There are different types of strings and winding tools to fly different sizes of kites; choose the most suitable tools. Wait for wind to come and run slowly until your kite rises.

Now enjoy your kite-flying. How long your kite will fly depends on your skills of releasing or rolling up the string.