Weifang the City of Kites

Kites was originated in Spring & Autumn period, about 2000 thousands years ago in ancient China. It became the message tool at South & North Dynasty and started become a popular outdoor sports in Sui dynasty. In Song dynasty, there was a weapon that's made of kites, loading kites with gunpowder then flied it to enemies' upper sky, also know as “Mysterious Fire Crow”. No wonder the famous British scholars Joseph took kite as one of the most important inventions of China. Till today, it's still very popular especially among old citizens and children. I can see people fly kites in city square here everyday. My dad used to make big octagonal kite with newspapers and red ribbon as its tail when I was in primary school. Even today, I still remember vividly the scene of me flying kite in spring country field.



Weifang has long been famous for it's beautiful name-The Kite City of the World. It has so many kinds kites with different shapes and colors that would totally blow your mind. Every year in April, there is International Kite Festival with rich kites-related activities. The sky becomes kaleidoscope with so many beautiful and colorfulc kites. During the Festival, a performance will be held in the evening. Many famous Chinese singers give performances at the gala.Spring is the perfect season for flying kite cuz the strong wind.



I took a tour to Weifang International Kites Muesum. It was a beautiful building looking from outside. There was eight exhibition halls inside with different kite themes. The commentator told me, there was more than 1000 kinds kites and over 300 kites antiques inside the muesum. When I first stepped in, I was astounded by it's numerous kites exhibition and beautiful design. In Chinese hall, the first thing that caught up my eyes is “Three Happy Gods(lucky, wealth, prosper). It was so lifelike, the figures clothes and beard could swing with the breeze. There was also world kites hall. Korean hall was mainly about buddha;Malaysian hall was more fancy, like moon kite with strong islamic style; in Indonesian hell, there was giant butterfly with resilient color.



Enough for kite-seeing, time for having some fun! I found an open area and started flying kite. My kite was a gold fish with mouth wide open, either it's shocked or too happy, haha! With the wind blowing, it was getting higher and higher and I was loosing up the line bit by bit. I was staring at my kite up high, imagining I was flying too, all my worries were taken up to the sky. A short white later, my line was used out so my kite couldn't go higher. What a pity? I found a quiet place and sat down. In the distance, some was flying “butterfly”, some was flying “tiger”, some was flying “eagle”, a little boy was flying a “octopus”, what an awesome kite kingdom!