I occasionally see children flying kites and dragging a cotton thread all over the street, having fun and even looking fun. The so-called kite is just a piece of paper stuck on a bamboo pole frame, one foot square, with at most some paper nails under it, and the result is often hung around the wires in the street.
I often think of flying kites in Beiping when I was a child. I especially like flying kites. I never gave up this interesting game when I was a child until I was thirty or forty years old. In Beiping, flying kites has a certain season, and spring is always suitable after the New Year. At this time, the wind is strong and stable. The wind is very strong in severe winter and too weak after spring. In spring, the sky is blue and the wind keeps blowing, which is most suitable for flying kites.
Kites in Beiping are the most exquisite. This is because there are many people in the idle class in Beiping, such as the children of the Eight Banners, and everything that belongs to the entertainment of eyes and ears is developing in particular. My family lives in Dongsi South Street and Dongcheng. There is an Erlang Temple between the Ministry of Internal Affairs Street and Shi Jia Hutong. There is a kite shop next to the temple. The owner surnamed Yu, known as "Kite Yu". The kite he made is quite famous in the city. My home is close to him, so it is convenient to buy kites. He made many kinds of kites, such as Fat Sand Goose, Lean Sand Goose, Longjing Fish, Butterfly, Dragonfly, Catfish, Lantern, Chinese Cabbage, Scolopendra, Beauty, Bagua, Toad and so on. Fish's eyes are very active, and when they are put up, they turn round and round, with a long tail and a gentle breeze. Butterflies and dragonflies also have soft wings and are beautiful to wave. The frame of the kite is made of bamboo with Korean paper stretched on it. Painted in silk, beautiful and colorful. The most wonderful thing about kite making is that the angle of the "lifting line" is accurate, and it does not "roll" when placed, and it is flat and stable. Kites are as small as three feet and as big as ten feet. Usually, three to six feet is enough to play at home. The factory opens in the New Year, there are many kite vendors, and the quality is ok.
Kite-flying thread, small kites can use cotton thread. If it is more than three feet, it should be a "small thread" made of several strands of cotton thread. Small lines are also thick and thin, as needed. To be elegant, you must use the "old string": it is strong and light, and it can be twisted into a straight line when put up, unlike the small string making a round pocket. Thread is usually wound on a rotatable bamboo rafter. What we pay attention to is the hard wood line, which is particularly flexible and rotates quickly. Hit it with your index finger, and it turns a dozen times, and naturally it wraps the thread.
Some people fly kites, especially big kites, and often go to the city roots or other open places, because the wind is strong there and they get up as soon as they shake them. Especially that kind of special giant kite, called "Pai", is rectangular and square, without any pattern, and the largest kite is no more than nine feet. All houses in Beiping have yards. When flying a kite, you must first measure the wind direction. Someone should pick up a big bamboo pole with an iron fork or a copper fork (that is, a fork for painting) at the top, pick up the kite, hold it high above the eaves, and shake it when the wind comes, and the bamboo pole can be taken down. Sometimes the wind is not strong enough, and people with bamboo poles have to climb up to sit on the roof. Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort, but aunt Feng doesn't come, so we have to give up. However, there are not many opportunities for this kind of disappointing.
Kites, like airplanes, are most likely to crash during takeoff and landing. Wires and trees are the biggest obstacles, so we must avoid them. As soon as the kite was in the sky, there was nothing wrong with it. Sometimes when it enters Feng Gang, you don't need to hold it with your hands. You can tie the thread to the post of the house, go into the house and rest by yourself, or even tie it all night and bring it back tomorrow. It is very cold in spring. If you stay in the yard for a long time, you will feel cold and cry. Sometimes the strings will hurt your fingers and even bleed. You need to go to the house to rest and keep warm.
The word "Zheng" of a kite is originally a musical instrument, which is shaped like a harp and has thirteen strings. Therefore, as the name implies, kites should also have sounds. "Inquiring about Grass Record" said: "In the Five Dynasties, Ye Li made a paper kite in the palace, led the kite to ride the wind as a play, followed the kite head and used bamboo as a flute, making the wind enter the bamboo and sound like A Zheng." This record is correct. However, the kite we fly in Beiping is not a "bamboo flute". There are two kinds of kites with sound, one with gongs and drums, and the other with strings and bows. Of course, it is not both. The so-called gongs and drums are beating paper drums by using the principle of windmills, which are crisp and audible. The sound of the bow is more pleasing to the ear. There are poems as evidence:
Static strings sound blue at night,
Officials and businessmen trust each other.
Sounds like a song,
It was blown by the wind again. Stop tuning it.
-Gao Pian's poem "Kite"
I think flying kites is very interesting. Life is in a small circle, and there is probably no one who doesn't want to fly away occasionally. Traveling and sightseeing is a way, but it is not always available. When I was flying a kite, I held a thread in my hand and watched the kite rise slowly, and then stopped at high altitude. At this time, I seem to be flying with a kite, overlooking the world and enjoying myself. I think this may be because I want to fly but I can't, a disguised form of self-satisfaction. In the afternoon of spring, it's fun to watch someone else's kite fly in the sky, but if you have a thread in your hand, it's like a kite flying in the sky with your own mood. Really, when I brought the kite back, I had a strange feeling in my heart, as if I had returned from swimming. Although not disappointed, at least I am in a state of exhaustion after enjoying myself. I am lazy and have nothing to say. I returned to the earth from the sky, soared from the sky and crawled on the ground.
Flying kites can also "send banners" (commonly known as "send rice"). Tie a string on the kite string, and then tie a long piece of paper on the kite string. When paying off, the thread ring and the long paper will be blown by the wind and slowly slide into the sky, and the paper will fly in the sky until it reaches the foot of the kite. You can also send small red lanterns one by one at night. There are no kites in the dark, only red lights are swimming around in the sky.
Flying a kite sometimes requires a little skill. The most important thing is to control properly between pay-off and relaxation. The wind was too strong, and the kite suddenly jumped high, swaying from side to side, and the line was pulled tightly. At this time, the kite will fall if you are not careful. Don't panic when planting. Release the line as soon as possible, and it will float again immediately. Sometimes the kite has fallen out of sight, but it can still be recovered. It is not advisable to rush everything. Relaxation can often save the day, and flying kites is another example. People with poor skills, when they see that kites are going to tumble, quickly recycle them, which is enough to strengthen their danger and make them out of control. It doesn't matter if the kite falls on the treetop. At this time, we should also relax the line and get up with a gentle pull by the wind. If impatient people pull hard, it will become more entangled until the kite is torn to pieces. When the wind is weak, the kite will naturally descend and the string will be pocket-shaped, so it should be shaken frequently, pay off the string as much as possible, and then take it back in time. If it were looser and tighter, the kite wouldn't fall.
Aggression is human instinct. Flying kites can also show fighting spirit. If you find kites floating nearby, you can play a dozen if the position and direction are suitable. The way is to try to put your kite under the other person's pocket and then suddenly take up the line. The kite rises steeply in a straight line and is bound to get entangled with the other's pocket. Both kites are tottering, and both sides are eager to pull the string back. At this time, it depends on whose line is thick, whose hand is fast and whose terrain is superior. On the one hand, the winner can pull his kite back, and with a prisoner, there may be a long queue. I can often catch four or five kites in a season. I'm glad to put away the kite I caught, as if to show off my victory, but sometimes I lost the battle and my kite was caught. It's another taste to watch my kite float in the sky in a day or two. This kind of struggle does not harm the way of good neighborliness. It is a game, and there is no problem of violating airspace. Moreover, kites are only fun in one season, and no one wants to play kites every other year. Superstition says that flying kites every other year is unlucky, and it may be that kite sellers make artificial rumors.