Somewhere in a park in central China you see kites swinging high in the air. During the Cultural Revolution kite flying was banned and kite makers who ignored the ban were sent to jail by the Red Guards. During the Qing Dynasty, it was believed that flying a kite and then letting it go might send off one's bad luck and illness. Kite flying originated some 2300 years ago, Mo Zi a Chinese philosopher and skilled carpenter spent years making a mechanical bird from wood which flew. Mo Zi whittled bamboo into pieces put them together and wound up with a magpie shaped model that flew up in the air. Todays kite making following an old traditional Chinese handicraft, with a bamboo frame covered by silk or paper. The invention of paper made kites cost less and quickly spread among the common people. Kites has served many purposes since its invention. In the southern Dynasties era an emperor flew a kite with a secret message which he hoped would get out of his capital besieged by rebel forces to his remote reinforcement. In the summer of 1752 Benjamin Franklin did his famous experiment with a kite to prove that lightning is an electric phenomenon and his discovery became the basis for the invention of lightning rod. The kit flying tradition has evolved over many centuries in China. Beijing has produced many big names Kite artisans including Cao Xueqin who ancient Chinese classics dream of Red Mansion. He made a passing references in his novel to a few kite like Big Phoenix, Big red bat, Big fish and Seven geese. He also discribed a game called kite scramble in which one kite flyer was supposed to screw up the thread of another and capture his or her kite. Nantong have an excellent kite museum full of local kite tradition. Famous for being outfitted with whistles that could be heard whir above the Nantong sky. The international kite festival in Weifang each year in April, is all about flying kites and sharing them with other competitors from all over the world.
