Weifang of Shandong Province is a city famous for its traditional handicrafts and also for its kites.In 1984,the First International Kite Festival was held here.In 1988,Weifang was elected“the Capital of Kites of the World.”Then,in 1989,the headquarters of the International Federation of Kites was set up here.Every April,Weifang holds an international kite festival.
Walking into this kite capital of the world,you will be lost in a colorful world of kites:everywhere in the city,over the skies of the streets,all kinds of kites in a variety of colors,forms and different schools of art are flying,contending for beauty.
Many folk arts can be found in Weifang City.Its New Year paintings,paper-cuts,silver inlaid articles and cloth toys all claim several hundred years of history. However, the city’s most famous art is still its kites.
Weifang is one of the birthplaces of China’s kites and also one of the four main kite producers in the country.
Weifang’s kites have a history of more than 2,000 years,commanding the same fame as those of Beijing and Tianjin.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the kites of Weifang reached their peak.Around the festival of Pure Brightness,when the Chinese mourn their ancestors,every family flies the kites they have made and are most proud of.Zheng Banqiao(1693–1765),a poet and artist of the Qing Dynasty who had been county magistrate,wrote a poem describing the magnificent scene of the time:“Paper flowers fly over the sky like snow;Charming women play the swing over a circle;Their five-colored skirts sway in the wind,like butterflies fighting each other to usher in the return of spring.”
The subjects of the kites of Weifang are varied,their designs are exaggerated and distorted,and the appearance of the kites has the style of a New Year painting.It seems that all kinds of kites of the world can be found here.Some of the shapes are impossible to imagine until you see them in person, such as stereoscopic towers,buildings,bells,flower baskets,fans,palace lanterns,tiles with geometric patterns,the Eight Diagrams and the five stars.They differ in quality.Apart from the traditional materials like silk,satin and paper,there are genuine feathers with which to make eagle-shaped kites.The most interesting is a form of kites called“Sending Meal,”which relies on wind power to send articles to the sky along the line of the kite and when the article reaches the top it will bump against the horizontal stick attached to the kite beforehand and the vanes of the article will fold up and automatically slide down along the line of the kite.
The animals,including eagles,doves,tigers,goldfish,frogs,butterflies,dragonflies and legendary figures,including Sun Wukong,the Monkey King,Chang’e,the moon fairy,the God of Longevity,Chinese characters like fu(fortune),lu(rank),shou(longevity)and xi(happiness),and even various kinds of houses and utensils can be the subjects for kites.And they can be flown,whether they are huge or the size of a palm.