Legend has it that the world's first "kite" was made of bamboo by Luban. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun improved papermaking, there was a paper kite, and in the late Tang Dynasty, people added bamboo flutes to paper kites, flew up to the sky, and made a "whining" sound, like the sound of a kite, so people changed the name of "paper kites" to "kites".
Flying kites is also one of the traditional customs before and after the Qingming Dynasty. After people put kites in the blue sky, they cut the strings and let the breeze send them to the ends of the earth, hoping to eliminate diseases and disasters and bring good luck to themselves.
Kite originated in China, Shandong Weifang is known as the "world kite capital", there are more than 300 local kite enterprises and operators, related employees reached more than 100,000 people. In May 2006, Weifang kites were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. The conference headquarters of the "International Kite Federation" is also located there.
Not only that, the "International Kite Festival" held in Weifang every year attracts more than 30 countries and regions around the world to participate, and in recent years, it has "broken the circle" on social media and become a hot topic for young people, as some netizens commented, "In Weifang, there is nothing that cannot go to heaven."
Video: It is art, but also heritage, approaching Weifang kite. Interview: Wang Yu, Video Editor: Li Sijie, Source: Weifang Archives, Ding Chuanqing (02:17)
An ancient kite production site
The earliest place in Weifang City to invent kites and fly kites. It is said that the earliest originated from the primitive religious worship of the Dongyi people in ancient times with birds as totems. The literature records that "Mozi cut wood for irises, three years to become, flying one day and defeated", Luyang people Mozi is the earliest person in the legend to try to make "kites", and then Luban cut bamboo wood for kites, "into flying for three days, three days not down", which has the first "kite" in Chinese history.
As the birthplace of kites, Weifang folk have had the tradition of "tying kites" since ancient times, and in the Song Dynasty, Weifang kites began to become popular, more popular in the Ming Dynasty, a large number of artists who tied paper kites appeared, and with the popularity of kite flying customs, reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty calligrapher and painter Zheng Banqiao has a poem cloud, "Paper flowers fly like snow in the sky, delicate women swing around, flying color Luo skirt wind swing, so that butterflies can return to spring." ”
Iris Ancient City Map Weifang Gongmei Kite Network Map
But weifang really won the name of "Iris Capital" and became the largest producer of kites, but also benefited from the development of local handicrafts. "During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Weifang handicraft industry was already very developed, according to the saying at that time, 'two thousand red furnaces, three thousand smashing coppersmiths, nine thousand embroidery girls, and 100,000 looms'. Folk also formed a considerable scale of the market, people sell New Year paintings in winter, sell kites in spring, over time, merchants from all over the country come to weifang, Weifang has become a trading center for kite products. Ding Chuanqing, the kite manager of Weifang Gongmei, told the surging news.
On April 5, 1933, kite artists in Laowei County spontaneously held the first kite competition in the Ya Lobby of Weifang County. Weifang Gongmei kite network diagram
Ding Chuanqing said that today's folk handmade kites in Weifang are mainly divided into two schools, one is called "Chengpai", that is, the Laowei County traditional artisan school with Shifu Garden as the core. The other is the "township school", represented by the Yangjiabu kite in Weifang.
"Yangjiabu originally did not produce kites, the most famous is the New Year painting. But in the past, after the winter New Year paintings were sold out, the craftsmen framed the remaining New Year paintings on the skeleton of the kite and made them into kites, which were characterized by local materials, bright color blocks, and rough styles. Ding Chuanqing introduced.
Weifang Yangjiabu kite Visual China figure
The city school kite from the selection of materials to the weaving and drawing, often all of them are refined, and even many well-known painters participate in the design of kites, so the drawing of kite patterns is more refined and more literati. In the past, there was a saying of the "Ten Families" of the City School kite, which was passed down from generation to generation, and fathers and sons inherited each other. Some famous kites, such as those with themes such as Magu Xianshou and Xianhe Boy, were introduced to the court and were collected by the royal family.
Weifang GongmeiCheng sent Gongbi character kite. Weifang Gongmei kite network diagram
The "guardian" of Weifang kite
Thousands of years of traditional skills have been bred to this day, and nature is inseparable from the protection of the locals. The "Weifang Gongmei" where Ding Chuanqing worked is the guardian of this treasure.
"In 1957, Beijing held a 'National Forum of Old Artists', and five old artists from Weifang represented by Guo Lancun attended the meeting. Soon after, Weifang established the Institute of Arts and Crafts (hereinafter referred to as "Weifang Gongmei"), which gathered Weifang craftsmen to carry out the protection of traditional arts and crafts, including Weifang kite making techniques. In 1960, the Institute also founded the first Arts and Crafts School. Ding Chuanqing introduced.
Group photo of the Institute of Arts and Crafts in 1965. In the middle of the front row is Guolan Village. Weifang Gongmei kite network diagram
Guo Lancun, known as the "Grandmaster of Weifang Arts and Crafts", was born in Songyuanzi Street, Weicheng, and is a descendant of Guo Shangyou, the Shangshu of the Household Department of the Ming Dynasty in Weixian County. Influenced by his family, he has loved painting since he was a child, especially good at working pen figures and horses, and has also studied the art of silver inlay, kite, embroidery, woodblock New Year painting and so on. After the establishment of Weifang Gongmei, as the backbone, he extended his skills into kite production, improved the traditional hard-winged kite into a live-winged kite, and produced a miniature kite, which was unique, so it was called "Guo's Kite". It is also under the leadership of these old artists that Weifang kites are protected and begin to be slowly attracted attention.
Miniature kite
In May 1983, at the China Export Commodities Fair held in Shanghai, Weifang Gongmei was invited to participate in the performance of 28 Weifang kites, which attracted the attention of audiences at home and abroad, the most eye-catching of which was a 50-meter-long dragon head centipede kite. At that time, Mr. David Chekle, chairman of the Seattle Kite Association, happened to be at the trade fair, and weifang kites left a deep impression on him, so after the meeting, he specially ordered a batch of kites from Weifang to bring back to the United States.
When he came to Weifang for the second time, David found Sun Lirong, who was then the director of the Weifang Gongmei Kite Research Institute, and put forward the idea of holding an international kite festival, and finally after consultation, everyone decided to set the venue of the international kite festival in Weifang.
Weifang International Kite Club initiator Mr. and Mrs. David Chekle of the United States in Anqiu Folk Village. Weifang Archives Map
From April 1 to 3, 1984, the first Weifang International Kite Club was held at the Municipal Stadium, with 18 teams from 10 countries and regions including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, China, and performed together with the Weifang Gongmei Kite Performance Team, and 74 varieties of kites were released and exhibited on the field.
The first Weifang International Kite Festival. Weifang Archives Map
A kite at the exhibition of the first Weifang International Kite Club combines elements of three cartoon characters in China, Japan and the United States. Video screenshots
"It was a sensation at the time, especially held in a small city like Weifang, which can be said to be a blockbuster. From April 1 every year, it can last for a whole month, and all units and schools in the city will participate. Later, the Weifang International Kite Fair, the Shouguang Vegetable Expo and the Lutai Economic and Trade Fair became the three major events in Weifang every spring. Ding Chuanqing told the surging news.
On April 1, 1988, Weifang was identified as the "Kite Capital of the World" by the Presidium of the Fifth International Kite Association.
At the 1987 Weifang Kite Festival, French photographer Eric BoUVET photographed Visual China
Nezha stepping on the hot wheel, French photographer Eric BoUVET photographed Visual China
Challenge the world's longest kite
"When we were young, we used small bamboo strips, cut into bamboo grates to make a skeleton, pasted paper, and added three streamers at the bottom, and a kite was ready. At that time, as long as it was spring, the Bailang River was full of kite flyers. Boys have a sense of victory and defeat, and must be higher than anyone else. Ding Chuanqing recalled.
Ding Chuanqing is a native of Weifang, born in the 1970s. In 1999, with a love for kites, he entered Weifang Gongmei and has now become one of the "baton takers" of Weifang kites. In his opinion, it takes both talent and patience to engage in craftsmanship, but the hardest part is to really like it.
Ding Chuanqing's favorite research is the traditional String Kite in Weifang , the Dragon Head Centipede Kite. According to legend, in the sixtieth year of Qianlong (1795 AD), the Qianlong Emperor held the fourth feast of thousands of monks. At that time, the Ding family, one of the four great masters of Weifang, gathered kite artists from the Weifang City School to jointly make a majestic dragon head centipede kite and present it to the emperor. The waist of this dragon head centipede kite has a total of 85 knots, which means the 85th birthday of Qianlong, and thus creates a precedent for the Weifang dragon head centipede kite, and its reputation is far and wide.
Weifang traditional string kite - dragon head centipede kite. French photographer Eric Bouvet photographs Visual China
As a descendant of the Ding family, Ding Chuanqing's love for the dragon head centipede kite is also overflowing, and he prefers to challenge himself. "In the past, the length of the dragon head centipede kite was generally tens of meters, up to 100 meters. Someone once asked me, can you make the longest kite in the world? It happened to be 2012, and I thought to myself, if I don't try a 2012-meter kite. ”
In order to achieve this goal, Ding Chuanqing conducted research and testing for about half a year before and after, and as long as there was a little wind outside, he chased the wind to release. Luckily, the 2012 meter dragon head centipede kite flew smoothly.
Ding Chuanqing flew a dragon-headed centipede kite. Ding Chuanqing figure
In 2014, a TV show invited Ding Chuanqing to fly a 5,000-meter dragon head centipede kite at The Head of Orange Island in Changsha to challenge the Guinness Book of World Records. On the day of the flight, hundreds of volunteers spread thousands of meters of kites to measure, and the scene was spectacular.
"Whether the kite can fly, in addition to the production process, but also consider the flying conditions on the spot." Changsha and Weifang are not the same, the weather is wet and foggy, we prepared for about three months, did a lot of tests, but unfortunately, the release was not successful. ”
Flying kites, pay attention to the time and place. Perhaps it is also this uncertainty that adds to the fun of the challenge. Since 2012, Ding Chuanqing has been constantly upgrading on the road of challenging the "world's longest kite". At the 38th International Kite Conference last year, Ding Chuanqing successfully flew a 7432-meter-long dragon-headed centipede kite, more than 2,000 small kites were connected every 2 to 3 meters, and more than 50 staff members cooperated with each other, breaking the Guinness World Record.
On the road to challenging the "world's longest kite", constantly upgrade. Ding Chuanqing figure
After becoming an "influencer"
Friends who have been to the Weifang International Kite Festival are all shocked by the "birds and animals" and "seafood brigades" flying in the sky, and even see "planes", "tanks" and "aircraft carriers" appear in the sky, subverting many people's cognition of traditional kites.
The "Seafood Brigade" in the sky visual China picture
"Aircraft carrier" kite
"At the 37th session, we built a 55-meter-high Long March 3 rocket kite, which not only successfully flew, but also achieved air separation. During this year's Winter Olympics, we also made kites with ice piers and snow melting. Ding Chuanqing introduced to the surging news.
55 meters of equal proportions of the Long March 3 rocket kite. Visual China figure
The imaginative imagination has created one "visual spectacle" after another, and also made the Weifang International Kite Festival a "net red event" and sought after by young people. Everyone is happy to see more quirky, new kites flying into the sky.
However, Ding Chuanqing also noticed that most people are not interested in art, but really pay attention to the traffic brought by the event itself.
"The modern kites that everyone sees now are generally machine production and sewing machine tie, which is very different from traditional kites. But as a commodity in the market, it is still very prosperous. No matter what the size is, as long as the customer has requirements, there will be a team to study and produce.
"So sometimes I get confused too. Should I keep up with the times and cater to young people's ideas? Or continue to dig out the ancient things and sort them out. Because in my own sense, I am more interested in the latter. Ding Chuanqing said frankly.
All kinds of new and strange kites. Visual China figure
However, the handicrafts engaged in the production of kites in Weifang today have also appeared in the phenomenon of "green and yellow". Behind them are the clichés: long apprenticeships, low incomes, and disconnection from modern society.
"Now, the mainstream approach to protecting handicrafts is to go into schools. In order to leave an impression on young people and understand the basic knowledge of kites, such as what types of kites there are, whether to fly downwind or against the wind, through the accumulation of knowledge, it may be possible to cultivate their interest. In recent years, we have indeed seen the emergence of enthusiasts. Ding Chuanqing said.
Weifang World Kite Museum Weifang Gongmei Kite Network Map
In addition to retaining traditions, there is no doubt that more efforts are needed to keep traditions going. Dante Chuanqing also believes that only things that truly have cultural heritage can survive forever.
"Now we have the Weifang Kite Museum, and perhaps in the future, through high-tech means such as VR, we can display the traditional kite skills more vividly and arouse the public's interest." On the other hand, we continue to innovate and derive on the basis of tradition, guiding more and more young people to discover the beauty of tradition. ”