"Children return from school early and are busy taking advantage of the east wind to release paper kites."
On weekends, Nanjing's parks, large and small, are full of kites of all kinds.
Do you know? More than 200 years ago, there was also a kite master in Nanjing- Cao Xueqin.
He not only wrote kites in "Dream of the Red Chamber", but also made his own kites, and later brought this "craft" to Beijing.
More than 1400 years ago, someone in Nanjing flew a kite on the battlefield
Nanjing people love kites, which have historical roots.
According to the "History of the South · The Biography of Hou Jing records that in the third year of Liang Taiqing (549 AD), Emperor Xiao Yan of Liangwu was besieged in the city of Nanjing by Hou Jing's rebels, and could only take advantage of the northwest wind to release kites with edicts to ask for help. Unfortunately, the kite did not fly high enough, or was shot down by the rebels, and failed to complete its mission to save the car.
"In the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people" As the era of war and chaos slowly faded away, since the Tang Dynasty, the small kite has unloaded its military tasks and entered people's lives from the battlefield, becoming a tool for everyone's entertainment.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, in the Jiangnan region, flying kites around the Qingming Festival has become a custom, and Yuhuatai is the most beloved kite venue for Nanjing people.
How "rolled" was the Nanjing kite during the Republic of China?
According to the "Chronicle of Jinling", the style of kites includes "dragons, silver carp, butterflies, crabs, centipedes, goldfish, dragonflies, cicadas, eagles, swallows, seven stars, octagons, flower baskets, beauties, bright moons, lanterns, bells... "By the way, they will also add strings to the kite, and when they fly, they will not only look good, but also have their own "sound". This technology is amazing!
Born in Nanjing, three generations of the family were once Cao Xueqin, who woven in Jiangning, and according to the current parlance, she is also a "new Nanjinger". As a carefree, playful young master, Nanjing Kite probably left a deep impression on him.
Kites in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are all disposable products
When children are on their backs, the Qingming makeup is the most appropriate.
The gossamer was broken and weak, and Mo complained to the East Wind.
- Play a plaything
This riddle in the twenty-second episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", did you guess it?
That's right, the mystery is the kite.
Up and down Jia Fu, from the little girl to the young master, everyone is a good kite flyer. In the seventieth time, the crowd flew all kinds of kites, including large butterflies, beauties, soft-winged phoenixes, big fish, big crabs, big red bats and other patterns, seven geese connected in a row, and the door leaf was large.
Even Daiyu, who has always been ill, not only flew her kite well, but also saw at a glance that Baoyu's kite could not be put up because the top line was not right, as long as "take it out and make another person hit the top line." Unexpectedly, Sister Lin is also a hidden kite master!
However, these exquisite kites are all disposable, and they will not come back when they fly into the sky. It is not that everyone has a poor flying technology, but there is a "debauchery" exquisite. As soon as the kite flies high and far, people will cut the line and let it go with the wind, taking away the obscurity and sickness of the year.
In the book, when Dai Yu cut the kite line, she was a little reluctant, and Li Yi advised her: "The kite flying picture is this music, so it is said that the air is obscure, you should put more, and take the root of your illness with you." "
The world-famous "Dream of the Red Chamber" also has a "brother"
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", the emperor's tome, the description of kites is only a drop in the ocean. However, "Dream of the Red Chamber" also has a "brother" who specializes in kites - "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Work Zhi".
The Southern Harrier and the Northern Iris Examination Chronicle is a volume in Cao Xueqin's "Manuscripts of the Waste Art Collection". Compared with the famous "Dream of the Red Chamber", this set of books has a very low sense of existence and once disappeared from people's vision.
In 1943, the Collected Manuscripts of the Waste Art Collection were published in Beijing and were bought by a Japanese businessman surnamed Kaneda. Several scholars interested in kites borrowed the book and copied part of it from the Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Chronicle. Later, the Collected Manuscripts of the Waste Art Collection were brought back to Japan by the Kaneda clan, and have not been heard from since.
More than 20 years later, in 1971, people found Cao Xueqin's inscription wall poem near the Reclining Buddha Temple at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain, and the "Manuscript of Waste Art Collection" signed "Qinpu Cao Xia" entered the researcher's field of vision.
According to the research of red science experts, this book is indeed written by Cao Xueqin, a total of eight volumes, talking about issues such as craftsmanship and technology, including printing, weaving, gardening, kites, cooking, birth craftsmanship, printing and dyeing... The part of the hand-copied "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Work" at that time became the only testimony of this book.
"Kite master" Cao Xueqin
In the "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Engineering Chronicle", there is a Cao Xueqin who is not so consistent with our impression: he is a "kite master", writing kites, flying kites, and making kites, all of which are professional.
Watching Cao Xueqin fly a kite is a treat. His friend Loves Shin Kyora · Dun Min said in "Bottle Lake MaoZhai Jisheng" that when Cao Xueqin flew the kite, "the wind kite obeyed the orders of the hundreds, and the gossamer waved between the square inches", which made people feel "pure childlike heart".
Cao Xueqin is not only a theoretical school, but also has a good technique for making kites with one hand. All are made swallow kites, and his swallows can be subdivided into fat swallows, thin swallows, small swallows, young swallows, and wing swallows... It's a big family.
How good are these kites? It is said that one year later, Cao Xueqin tied a few kites and gave them to Yu Jinglian, asking him to try to sell them to subsidize the family. As a result, several kites were all bought at a high price by the gongzi brother in the capital, and the Yu family, who could not open the pot, finally had a good year.
It is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish. The craft of making kites, Cao Xueqin is not hidden at all, all written in the "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination Work Zhi", hoping that this book can help the poor and sick people who are difficult to survive, find a "self-supporting way" to sell kites.
He summarized the patterns circulated in the past, and added newly created styles, detailed the techniques and processes of these kites such as tie, paste, painting, and putting, each kite was equipped with a map, and also compiled the skills and methods of making kites into catchy songs.
△ Various kites today
The swallow kite flying in the sky today may inherit the design of Cao Xueqin!
Text | Modern Express + reporter Zhang Wenying Zheng Wenjing
(Edited by Wei Rufei)