Town Hall Square, this noon March 6, 2021, Julien, store manager XtremVent, takes his break. But no question of remaining inactive, he took with him an all red kite, bought in Shanghai, from a traveling merchant, during a trip. “He’s one of the few who can fly here,” he says. “It’s designed in such a way that it can fly anywhere without a problem.”
Beside him, a little boy tells him bluntly. “He is handsome!” Between the two boys, a moment of grace, far from the virus that came… from the same country. “In China,” explains a passer-by, “many gather in the evening to fly their kites. These are magical moments. In Xian, the city of the terracotta soldiers, I flew paper machines in the main square. ”
Today, the kite is one of the favorite pastimes of the Chinese. It comes in all shapes and sizes (dragon, eagle, fish…) and many are true works of art. “The Chinese have used kites for centuries not for fun but for military purposes. Thus the Han used them in the thirteenth century to frighten the enemy or transmit messages during sieges beyond the besieging forces ”, explains the site Chine Informations.
In the 10th century, King Liye (10th century BC) made paper hawks in his palace. One day, he had the idea of placing a bamboo flute on the head of one of his objects and making it fly. From his imagination were born the kites which were originally made with fairly light wood and often depicted in the shape of a bird. In Beijing, a place is known by kite enthusiasts: the temple of heaven. Photo: Alexandre Rougeot.
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