Kites have many names. They have different names in different countries, different periods and different regions. Kites in ancient China were called wooden kites because they were made of wood. Paper kites were later called paper kites, and kites were named in the last five generations, which has been passed down to this day, but there are still names such as kites and kites among the people. Kites are called in the north and kites in the south.
Japanese kites were introduced from China and originated from the cloth kite "Phoenix Towel" that once existed in China. English KITE means kite or kite; German DRACHE has the same meaning as China's "dragon"; The Spanish kite COMTETA means comet.
What is a kite? Kite is an artificial object controlled by wire traction and flying in the air with the help of wind. This is the basic definition of kite.
Kites are used for viewing and flying, and flying kites is a kind of sports entertainment. From this point of view, kite is an entertainment toy. Kite artists in northern China usually call kites flying machines created by themselves, which also reflects the entertainment of kites. From the definition of kite, we can see the characteristics of kite: kite is heavier than air objects at first; The kite itself has no power; It depends on the traction of the line to fly; Kites can only take off when there is wind.
A brief history of kites
China kites have a long history. It is said that Han Xin, a general of the Han Dynasty, used kites to make measurements. Liang Wudi used kites to send messages, but failed. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, someone jumped from a height with a kite on his back and didn't die. When Zhang Pi was besieged in the Tang Dynasty, he used a kite to send a message for help, which succeeded. These show that the history of kites in China is at least 2,000 years.
Since the Tang Dynasty, kites have gradually become toys. By the late Tang Dynasty, kites had been made of silk strips or bamboo flutes, and the wind blew, hence the name "kite". Some people say that the name "kite" originated in the Five Dynasties, when Ye Li pasted a kite with paper and installed a bamboo flute on it.
In the Song Dynasty, kites developed greatly, and the variety and performance of kites were closely related to people's lives. Such as Wulin; It is recorded in "Japanese Affairs" that young people seduce each other and kill each other, and the one who loses the line loses. /There are also kite-flying scenes in Zhang Zeduan's The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival and Su Hanchen's Poems of Hundred Schools in the Northern Song Dynasty. Xu Wei, a painter in the Ming Dynasty, wrote many poems related to kites, such as "wicker rubbing thread and wadding cotton, rubbing feet and putting paper. "How much energy the spring breeze consumes, taking the children to spring." Another example: "I used to be very happy, but I am not as old as I am this year. I can stay in Chunma and watch the children disconnect." Flying kites became more popular in the Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that Cixi told the Grand Inspector to run to Tianjin to find Kite Wei and tied a kite for him to play with. There are three big kites that Fu Yi played in the Forbidden City.
In seventy chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin vividly described the scenes of flying crabs, beauties, big fish, weaving bats, phoenixes, sand swallows and other kites in the Grand View Garden. It can be said that at this time, the toy kites in China developed to a very high level.
Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, China kites have spread all over the world, first in Southeast Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan and Malaya, and then in Europe and America. Under the influence of industrial revolution in europe, China's toy kites developed into flying machines there, passing through Kelly in Britain, Hargrave in Australia and Lindauer in Germany. Finally, the Wright brothers succeeded in manufacturing the earliest aircraft capable of carrying people in the United States.
Therefore, a China kite hangs in the lobby of the Washington Air and Space Museum. It says next to it, "The earliest flying machines of mankind were kites and rockets from China."
China kites have a long history. It is said that Han Xin, a general of the Han Dynasty, used kites to make measurements. Liang Wudi used kites to send messages, but failed. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, someone jumped from a height with a kite on his back and didn't die. When Zhang Pi was besieged in the Tang Dynasty, he used a kite to send a message for help, which succeeded. These show that the history of kites in China is at least 2,000 years.