Flying kites in Beijing
The sky in spring is kites’ paradise. When the brilliant multi-
colored kites embellish in the deep blue sky, you can immerse in
the contented mood, enjoy the rare leisure and carefree, perhaps
this is the most romantic thing in the spring. Kite, not only is
it a kind of toy or a traditional continuing, it is more a
cultural accumulating. In the “Three Stone Rooms”, the capital’s
youngest kite master Liu Bin from the kite aristocratic family,
said that kite containes too many different cultures, flying a
kite also must emit the affective tone.
There are three kinds of kites that are unique in their own
ways. In the “Three Stone Rooms” at Dianmen, the rooms are full
of all kinds of kites making human feeling dazzled,
nonprofessionals really don’t know where to start. Actually,
most popular kites are categorized into three kinds: hard wing,
soft wing and dragon. Liu Bin said that the hard wing is like a
man, mature and strong; the soft wing is like a woman, slender
and elegant; while the dragon kite flies a breadth of spirit and
power.
Hard wing kites like “Shayan”, “Triangle”, use bamboo strips all
around to outline the shape, the strips are glued together with
paper in the center, but the designs on paper can be created at
your own will. Soft wing kites are made especially attractive -
dragonfly, butterfly, goldfish…, the list goes on and on. The
bamboo strips are only put on top half of a kite, the bottom
half that dances in the breeze of wind is in fact made with
colored silk or nylon silk. Dragon really should be called
“string” because it is actually a long kite that is formed by
many small kites, for instance, the Gigantic Dragon, the
Centipede, the Shoulder Pole kite.
Among the kites, the modern one is also a spotlight.
Three-dimensional kite is just like a hot-air balloon, turtles,
crabs each crawl happily and freely in the sky; “Plate Hawk”
(Pan Ying) is the most difficult to fly, the ‘hawk’ spreads the
wings and spirals in airborne circle recklessly with tremendous
momentum; motion kite is simply like an aviation performance, it
uses chute cloth and two operating ordinates, actions like
turnover, gliding, diving, and other high level difficult
movements can all be performed.
There are five locations in Beijing are the best for flying
kites. Can’t wait any longer? Go pick one to your liking
quickly! There are couple of things you need to pay attention
when choosing a kite – 1. choose the pattern that you like; 2.
the strength of the bamboo strips on each side of two wings must
be the same, or it will not be able to balance itself in the sky.
The environment for flying kites is very important. You should
always go to a spacious place. Roughly count a bit, Beijing has
quite a few places that are ideal for flying kites.
- Tiananmen Square – Kites flying in the sky of The
Tiananmen Square has become the most attractive scenery on
Chang’an Street, nowhere else is more ideal than here in terms
of space. A major drawback is that the freedom of flying a kite
can be somewhat limited due to the surrounding crowds (mostly
tourists). - Chaoyang Park – The north side of the
green area in the park is the best place to fly a kite. No trees
around, no buildings, more importantly, it is permitted to fly
kites on the grass areas. But be careful not to trip yourself
when running. - Surrounding areas of the Panda Rotary
Island – It is spacious, fewer vehicles and people, does not
have any obstacles, with a bit of history of flying kites.
Expert kite lovers normally like to get together here. - Chinese Century World – Here most advantage is there
are very few trees, the kite may freely fly around in much wider
range. But the Century World’s artificial lawn has limited
load-bearing capacity, the lawn is well maintained and
protected, growing of the grass may be affected if too many
people keep stepping on it. - Shijingshan Amusement
Park – The open area in front of the park is the best place
for family of three or lovers to fly kites. The problems are the
park is next to the street, there are trees around, therefore
kites can not be released too high. Other drawbacks are there
are stairs in the park, the central park has an eruptive
fountain, you’d better be careful when running on the slippery
ground.
Note: You may freely republish this recipe as
long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank
you.
