Yangjiang Kite Craft

97.Yangjiang Kite Craft

Nominating Unit: City of Yangjiang

Ascending and flying kites in the Double-Ninth Festival is a time-honored tradition in City of Yangjiang. There is also a long history in kite making, which can be seen from the ballad “flying-kite competition in September the Ninth” and the pomp described in a Zhuzhi Poem (occasional poems in the classical styles devoted to local topics) in the Qing Dynasty “hundreds of thousands of kites flying in the sky with their shadows overlapping one another”. Yangjiang, located in southwestern Guangdong Province, has many typhoons in summer and northeastern wind blowing hard in winter. While in autumn, it has clear and crisp days perfect for flying kites, including Double-Ninth Festival. Before the festival every household sets out to make kites and all are out on the festival when you can see various colorful kites flying here and there in the sky, affording a magnificent spectacle.

The making of Yangjiang Kites is special and complicated. There are all kinds of kites, such as pony roll kite, soft or hard board kite, soft or hard wing kite, single straight string kite, tree-like string kite and so on. The paintings on the kites are also dazzling: the fairy tales like Seven Fairies and Chang’e Flying to the Moon, etc; the flower and fruit like guava, peony, two peaches, lotus, etc; animals like dragon, tiger, hawk, centipede, butterfly, dragon fl y, orb fish, shark, etc. The most representative types are the ones shaped like glossy ganoderma, centipede and hawk. The Glossy Ganoderma Board Kite gets its inspiration from a legend “White Snake steals glossy ganoderma”. The upper part of the structure is one piece of white cloud with the painting of Jinshan Temple and the picture of stealing. The middle part is a large glossy ganoderma. While the lower part is a running spotted deer holding the glossy ganoderma in its mouth. When this kite flies in the sky, the cane shaped like a bow which is on top of the kite issues a “bark” sound in the wind. Its pitch varies interestingly now and then and sometimes even sounds like music. The Glossy Ganoderma Board Kite was awarded one of the World Top 10. The longest Centipede Kite reaches 208 meters. When in the sky, it can move extremely flexible: protruding the head and withdrawing the tail, wrapping around both the left and right, shaking both head and tail, rolling up and down. It is even able to perform the following stunts: “Clerodendron Thomsonae”, “Playing Firecrackers”, “Dragon Breathe Fire”, etc. The Centipede Kite is known as “Yangjiang Living Dragon”. The Hawk Kite imitates the real hawk. It flies fast in a forceful and imposing manner. The most characteristic one is a group of hawks, dozens of small hawks or even a hundred of, strung together flying in the sky. The hawks can be strung in either straight line or tree shape. The soaring and hovering of the Hawk Kites in the air often attract the real hawks.(https://www.daowen.com)

The making technique of Yangjiang Kite includes four aspects: forming skeleton, paperhanging, painting and fly testing. It uses bamboo bars with different stuffiness and forms suitable and accurate proportion of each part according to the size of the kite and its different degree of wind-engaging. Special attention is paid to the laying of the stress line and the regulation line so as to adapt to the changes of the wind power and the wind direction. Though tested and studied through hi-tech means by relevant units, the air and wind dynamic principles contained in kite making still remain a secret.

More than 10 years ago, City of Yangjiang was named “China’s Home of Kites” by the national authorities. However, because of the complicated course of making kites by hands and its strictness, few young people have the patience to learn the art. As the prevailing of some simple and low-price kites produced by modern equipment, the succession and development of the traditional production technique of Yangjiang Kite has been badly hit. There is an urgent need to support and protect the Yangjiang Kites.