Anhui kite festival

cctv.com 03-18-2004 10:31

Spring brings the best season for kite-flying. A popular pastime in ancient China, flying kites has now become a worldwide activity. At the ongoing Anhui Kite Festival in the provincial capital Hefei, kites from home and abroad are filling the sky with a dazzling array of colors.

You cannot afford to miss this heady sky show - the soaring, multi-colored kites compete for your attention like dancers in the Rio carnival. This colorful hoop is circling happily against the backdrop of azure blue, seemingly flying free, a whirligig on the wind. How does it turn like that? A careful observer will find it's connected to a windmill-like kite that rotates in the wind.

Originally a Chinese invention, kites can now be found all over the world and in many different forms. With different designs and materials, Chinese kites are unlike their foreign counterparts. The traditional Chinese kite is usually made of silk on a bamboo frame. Modern foreign kites are made of parachute cloth set on a fiberglass frame. As such, Chinese kites can fly at a height of over 50 meters, which is more than two times higher than Western kites can go. Some special Chinese kites can even fly as high as 300 or 400 meters. Nevertheless, some foreign kites are designed to perform maneuvers that the delicate frame of the Chinese kite would not be able to handle.

Editor:Chen Jie  Source:CCTV.com