Centuries ago, Zheng Ban-qiao (1693-1765), a county magistrate who served in Weixian, today's Weifang in Shan-dong province, wrote a nostalgic poem about spring fun. He described kites — which he called "paper flowers" — flying like snow, filling the sky, painting a picture of kites everywhere around Qingming Festival.
As it turns out, he wasn't exaggerating.
Today, when spring arrives, the sky above Weifang turns into a joyful, airborne carnival.
There are kites celebrating the Year of the Horse, 100-meter-long ones snaking through the air, and even some shaped like nuclear submarines, soaring through the sky just as they would slip through the water.
Alongside them are kites featuring characters from animated hits such as Zootopia, vegetables with cheerful faces and a diverse array of ocean creatures. As netizens like to joke: "In Weifang, there is nothing that cannot fly."
The best time to see this wind-wheeling frenzy is in April. That's when the annual Weifang International Kite Festival turns the sky into a canvas of color and creativity.
And the fun doesn't stop when the sun goes down, because that's when the glowing kites break cover to light up the sky.
On Saturday, the 43rd edition of the festival officially kicked off, bringing together 260 kite teams from 57 countries and regions.
"Everyone who comes here flies together, for unity, for peace," said Konstantin Ratsos from Greece, who has visited Weifang four times just to fly kites.
"It's a big celebration for us to share the sky. Big, big happiness," he said.
This year, Ratsos brought eight kites, one of which was a lightweight dual-line stunt kite. "I can do turns, stop the kite midair, land it and even perform freestyle tricks," he said.
"Like any sport, you just need to practice a lot," Ratsos added.
Imen Jerbi from Tunisia held up a kite shaped like a traditional clay jar.
"I've seen so many beautiful Chinese kites," she said. "Ours represent our country's culture. This jar, we use it in summer to hold water, and it keeps the water cool."
A 20-meter-long truck kite based on Arena Breakout, a mobile game, attracted crowds of young people.
"The truck was designed with the help of artificial intelligence," said Guo Hongli, a Weifang kite maker. "We tested the frame in a virtual wind tunnel."
"Weifang has a long tradition of flying kites, and we are using new technologies to make kites more appealing to young people," he said.
This playful spirit is nothing new. An ancient book records that the world's first kite was made in Shan-dong. Mozi, an ancient Chinese philosopher during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), spent three years building a wooden kite, only to fly it for a day before it fell and broke.
Other accounts suggest that Lu Ban, Mozi's contemporary, a skilled all-around craftsman and inventor, built a kite shaped like a magpie made of wood and bamboo. According to an old text, it stayed in the air for three days before finally coming down.
Today, a statue of Lu Ban stands in front of the Weifang World Kite Museum, the largest museum of its kind.
Built in 1987, the museum houses over 1,000 kites, most of which have actually been flown. They represent different kite-making styles, from domestic examples to those from countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea and India.
At the museum, visitors will see China's main kite types represented, including soft-winged, hard-winged, plank-shaped, bunch-shaped and tube-shaped models.
Inside the folk craft hall of the museum, local artisans show visitors how to build a kite. Visitors can shape the frame, glue the paper and paint their own design. They can then take their complete kites outside and watch them, hopefully, take to the skies and join the festival atmosphere.
zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn
