Kites were called "kites" in ancient times and "kites" in the north. Most people think that kites originated in China and then spread all over the world. This is a traditional folk handicraft. In fact, the earliest kites in China were made of wood. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Mo Zhai (478-392 BC), a philosopher of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, spent three years flying into the sky with a wooden kite.
Mozi was in Lushan (now Weifang, Shandong). "Cypress is a kite. It took three years to make it, but it was lost in one day." This means that Mozi finally made a wooden bird out of a board after three years of research and trial production, but it broke down after only one day's flight. This wooden kite made by Mozi is the earliest kite in the world (about 300 BC), which has been around for 2400 years.
Mozi taught his kite-making career to his students in an open class (also called Luban). According to Mozi Luwen, Lu Ban made a kite out of bamboo according to Mo Zhai's ideal and design. Lu Ban split the bamboo, cut it into smooth slices, roasted it with fire, made it look like a magpie, and flew in the air for three days. "Hongshu" said: "The public transport class made a wooden kite to see Song Cheng."
It was not until Cai Lun invented papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty that kites were made of paper, which was called "paper kites". Therefore, it can be inferred that kites have a history of more than 2,000 years in China, and there are many stories about kites in ancient China. In BC 190, Chu and Han contended, and Han and Han Xin attacked Weiyang Palace to measure the distance under the tunnel with kites. In the Battle of Gaixia, Xiang Yu's army was besieged by Liu Bang's army. Han Xin sent someone to make a kite out of cowhide, put a bamboo flute on it, and the wind sounded (Sean played the flute with a kite). The Han army played flute and sang Chu songs, which dispersed the morale of the Chu army. This is the story of the idiom "Embattled".
In 202 BC, during the Chu-Han War, Hanwang Liu Bang led an army to pursue Xiang Yu, the king of Chu, until he retreated to the south of Yang Xia (now Taikang County, Henan Province), so he sent people to join Han Xin and Peng Yue to attack Chu. Han Xin sent troops from Qi, and Liu Jia attacked Chengfu (now Chengfu Village, southeast of Bozhou City, Anhui Province) from Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) and marched to Gaixia (now southeast of Lingbi County, Anhui Province). At this time, Chu Zhifu rebelled against Chu, destroyed Lu 'an (now Lu 'an County, Anhui Province) with Shu (now Shucheng County, Anhui Province), and sent troops from Xijiang County to follow Liu Jia and join forces in Gaixia.
Xiang Yu retreated to Gaixia, serenaded and ran out of food, and Liu Bang's army and the vassal's army surrounded him. In order to capture Gaixiacheng as soon as possible and capture Xiang Yu alive, Han Xin, the Duke of Huaiyin, made a kit kat kite to play Hanwang Liu Bang, and let Sean (Ovary) fly into the sky on a kite and sing Chu songs. At the same time, let the besieged Han army sing Chu songs. When the song was introduced into Gaixia City, the soldiers of Chu army heard the touching scene of Chu songs, and they missed their relatives in their hometown one after another and were unwilling to fight. Xiang Yu said in his account that "the Han army was besieged on all sides at night" and was very surprised: "Han has won Chu! He Chu has so many people! " Xiang Yu had to lead more than 800 people to flee south, and the Han army rode Guan Ying and led 5,000 cavalry to catch up. Xiang Yu fled to the Wujiang River, leaving only a dozen cavalry. Knowing that he was defeated, he could no longer fight Liu Bang, so he drew his sword and killed himself. This is the story of "the battle under cover, the Han army disintegrated the Chu army with the help of kites".
Learning point
Characteristics of kites in various countries
Although there are different views on the origin of kites, most people still believe that kites originated in China and spread to all countries in the world around the 8th century.
Generally speaking, because the Asian region is rich in bamboo, it is suitable for all kinds of free-form curve structure design, and combined with myths and legends, so the kite shape is ever-changing and full of personal color; In western countries, due to the lack of bamboo, glass fiber or carbon fiber are mostly used as materials, and the shape and color of kites are bright and simple, and they are mostly expressed by simple color blocks.
However, due to the differences in materials, climate and folk customs, kites of various shapes have evolved. For example, after Shayan in the north spread to Southeast Asia, it was transformed into various moon kites in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand and other places. However, the hard beat and the "meter" structure spread to South Korea and developed into a wind-hole kite. When they spread to Japan, they spread all over the world in the style of Ukiyo-e painting.