China is universally acknowledged as the birthplace of kites, which can be dated back to the Spring and Autumn Period over 2,000 years ago. Legend has it that the earliest kite was a wooden bird made by the ancient philosopher Mozi. Later, his disciple Lu Ban made some improvements upon the wooden kite by using bamboo instead. The creation gradually evolved into today's multi-line kites.
Folklorists say that kites were invited by ancient people to remember deceased family members and friends. That's why they would fly kites on the Qingming Festival, a day ancient people believed the gate of hell would be thrown open, allowing them to send their greetings to their loved ones via a kite. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to the booming of paper making industry, people began to make kites with paper. In the late Tang Dynasty, some people added musical strings to kites. When the wind blew, the kites gave out sounds like the guzheng (an ancient Chinese musical instrument), hence the name of "Feng Zheng" (literally meaning "Zheng in the wind"). In the Song Dynasty, flying kites became a popular outdoor activity, with lots of poems and paintings portraying kite-flying scenes.
Apart from being a source of entertainment, a kite were also used for military purposes in ancient times, such as distance measuring, information transmission and dangerous spot crossing etc.. During the Battle of Gaixia, when Xiang Yu's troops were encircled by Liu Bang's troops, Han Xin (the Han General) ordered the making of a cowhide kite, with a bamboo flute attached to it. When the kite was flown in the wind, the Han army sang Chu songs to the sound of the flute which broke up the Chu army's morale. In the end, the Han army won the battle. This was the origin of the Chinese idiom "Simian Chuge" (literally meaning "Chu songs all around", it's a phrase that means "under attack from all directions").
Today, Weifang City of Shandong Province is hailed as "the world's capital of kites". It is home to the largest kite museum in the world, with a display area of 8,100 square meters. The most famous kites of Weifang are Longting (Dragon Pavilion) and Julong (Giant Dragon) kites. The city hosts an annual international kite festival on the large salt flats south of the city. In Kaifeng, there's an age-old custom which is still popular today. On the Qingming Festival, people fly kites as high and far as possible and deliberately cut the line, allowing the kites to drift in the sky with the wind. This is a symbol of letting go of the unhappiness and sadness accumulated in the previous year. In addition, a kite is a carrier of hope. If a fish is drawn on a swallow-shaped kite, it has a hidden meaning of "wishes for surplus yields every year". The reason is that the word "fish" has the same pronunciation as that of "surplus" in Chinese. If bats, peaches, pine trees and cranes are painted on a kite, it means fortune, wealth and longevity.
