A giant butterfly, a flying dragon, an eagle, a peacock and an oversized bee. All these hover above my head but I’m not dreaming. Life-like animals, but in reality they are all kites! There is something exhilarating about watching a kite in the sky. Perhaps it is about the colours, its lightweight capability of riding the wind, soaring and gliding like a gull. Kites are the stuff of hobbyists and people who still have leisure time to enjoy…but if you thought kites are not in fashion anymore, please reconsider.
Currently showing at St James Cavalier is an exquisite collection of Chinese kites, the exhibition being organised as part of the Chinese New Year festivities. Tipping your chin up and admiring these multi-coloured forms, provides the chance opportunity to admire what our skies very rarely get to enjoy. Visiting this exhibition provides an insight into the history of kites and just an inkling of what kites can be all about.
Originating in China well over 2000 years ago, today’s “fun” specimens are a far cry from the first kites which were constructed for military purposes (something which repeated itself again and again down the annals of history, even during WWII). Only much later would kites turn into a royal pastime. Eventually kites moved down the hierarchical ranks and landed in the back gardens of common people who turned them into a profitable craft. Kites became so popular that four major kite production centres developed in China, the most important being Weifang in Shandong.
Weifang would bring about the creation of the most outstanding specimens, the likes of which could be flat, soft-winged, hard-winged or bucket-shaped. This is where dragon kites originated as did the famous dragon-head centipede variety. Incidentally, the latter variety can be viewed at St James Cavalier, though it beats me how this actually takes to the skies and stays there. Kites originating from Weifang also include any kind of animal form – birds, insects, fish as well as flowers, grass, trees and even people and kites depicting human activities. These themes invariably carry symbolic meanings and are adopted from New Year woodcut prints, typified by strident colours and vibrant contrasts. Appreciated for the delicate, yet sturdy frame structures that allow for the creation of vivid form and stable handling, Weifang kites are truly collectors’ items.
The Chinese were perhaps the first people to try their hand at flying and an ancient story recounts how a carpenter created a kite in the shape of a magpie which carried a person aboard in order to look out for the enemy. Made of bamboo and wood, it could fly for three whole days without precipitating. When paper was invented, paper kites would take China by storm, creating a particular stir when bamboo whistles were attached to their structure and elicited a sound similar to the “zheng”, a popular Chinese musical instrument. In fact, the paper kite is called the “feng zheng” which means the wind zheng.
Ancient Chinese believed that flying a kite would ward off bad fortune and sought to fly their kites as high as possible to grasp as much prosperity as they could. Today, kite flying, apart from being attracting specialists worldwide, is also a way of keeping up this ancient belief and keeping bad luck at bay. And that’s not all – flying kites keep people relaxed and smiling. It exercises the eyes which have to focus on the kite flying at a distance and through tilting the head backwards enhances a positive Yin-Yang balance throughout. Perhaps kite flying isn’t such a bad idea after all!
The Art of Chinese Kites – St James Cavalier, Valletta. Exhibition open until February 24.