A lot of international friends do not know kites in China have a long history, today we come to talk about the history of Chinese kites briefly.
The ancient manual labor invented Kites in the Eastern Zhou dynasty. The dynasty is during the spring and Autumn period, more than 2000 years. Legend Mozi ( ancient scientists ) made wooden birds, developed in three years. It is the earliest human kite origin. Later, Lu Ban ( a famous ancient inventor ) improved the wooden kite with bamboo. Cai Lun ( paper inventor ) improved the paper-making kite. Till then, the wooden birds have a new name “Zhiyuan”. Zhiyuan means kites.
The transmission of information has become a new function of kites in later periods. As we know the paper industry developed well in the Sui and Tang dynasties. People began to decorate kites with painted paper and made them more beautiful. In the Song Dynasty, flying kite became a popular sport. A poet Zhou Mi wrote in his poem ” 清明时节，人们到郊外放风鸢，日暮方归”. It describes the happy scene of people flying kites in the countryside in spring. There are two famous painters Zhang Zerui and Su Haichen in Song. They have vivid images of kite flying in their famous works ” Along the River During the Qingming Festival” and “A hundred children”.