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Chinese Kites |
In the present day, we inevitably think of the kite a child's toy, but this isn't the case. There are a huge variety of kites used for many purposes, even military! There are kites for competition, racing, associated sports such as snow-kiting, and also for very practical purposes, such as carrying supplies or a radio antennae. Although Chinese Kites are a particularly ornate category of modern day kites, China is actually the kite's country of origin. They were first used about 2,800 years ago and the first application was probably for the military, as is often the case with any new technology! Traditonal Chinese raw materials were ideal for kite making - silk cloth, silk line and thin bamboo stalks with a high tensile strength to resist the forces exerted by the wind. |
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Early Kites Although there is some evidence that kites were flown in a very simple form in Polynesian countries, it is the Chinese who honed the craft into a truly useful art. These early kites were mostly rectangular and could be enormous. According to old accounts, the were used for communications, lifting supplies and even men! Into the Twentieth Century. The military used them for testing the wind, measuring distance and signalling between troop locations. They didn't normally have a tail, but carried a long bow-line for stabilization. War kites were illustrated with fearsome motifs, while traditional characters were used for other variations. Kites And Science Benjamin Franklin used a kite to test his hypothesis about lightning being a form of electricity. Of course, he was right, and barely escaped with his life! In the latter part of the 18th century, and up until 1910, the kite was used extensively by scientific bodies for many apllications, such as aerial photography, communications, carrying men, and experiments in aeronautics - not such a far cry from those employed in the kite's humble beginnings! Modern kites are fast, very light and extremely responsive to wind and control. The hang-glider is of course the ultimate evolution of this ancient art, having achieved man's dream of soaring like a bird and having no line attaching him to the earth.
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