Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject: Flying kites in Beijing
Flying kites in Beijing
Travel Articles | July 4, 2005
The sky in spring is kites' paradise. When the brilliant multi- colored kites embellish in the deep blue sky, you can immerse in the contented mood, enjoy the rare leisure and carefree, perhaps this is the most romantic thing in the spring. Kite, not only is it a kind of toy or a traditional continuing, it is more a cultural accumulating. In the "Three Stone Rooms", the capital's youngest kite master Liu Bin from the kite aristocratic family, said that kite contains too many different cultures, flying a kite also must emit the affective tone.
There are three kinds of kites unique in their own ways. In the "Three Stone Rooms" at Dianmen, the rooms are full of all kinds of kites making human feeling dazzled, nonprofessionals really don't know where to start. Actually, most popular kites are categorized into three kinds: hard wing, soft wing and dragon. Liu Bin said that the hard wing is like a man, mature and strong; the soft wing is like a woman, slender and elegant; while the dragon kite flies a breadth of spirit and power.
Hard wing kites like "Shayan", "Triangle", use bamboo strips all around to outline the shape, the strips are glued together with paper in the center, but the designs on paper can be created at your own will. Soft wing kites are made especially attractive - dragonfly, butterfly, goldfish..., the list goes on and on. The bamboo strips are only put on top half of a kite, the bottom half that dances in the breeze of wind is in fact made with colored silk or nylon silk. Dragon really should be called "string" because it is actually a long kite that is formed by many small kites, for instance, the Gigantic Dragon, the Centipede, the Shoulder Pole kite.
Among the kites, the modern one is also a spotlight. Three-dimensional kite is just like a hot-air balloon, turtles, crabs each crawl happily and freely in the sky; "Plate Hawk" (Pan Ying) is the most difficult to fly, the 'hawk' spreads the wings and spirals in airborne circle recklessly with tremendous momentum; motion kite is simply like an aviation performance, it uses chute cloth and two operating ordinates, actions like turnover, gliding, diving, and other high level difficult movements can all be performed.
There are five locations in Beijing are the best for flying kites. Can't wait any longer? Go pick one to your liking quickly! There are couple of things you need to pay attention when choosing a kite - 1. choose the pattern that you like; 2. the strenth of the bamboo strips on each side of two wings must be the same, or it will not be able to balance itself in the sky.
The environment for flying kites is very important. You should always go to a spacious place. Roughly count a bit, Beijing has quite a few places that are ideal for flying kites.
1. Tiananmen Square - Kites flying in the sky of The Tiananmen Square has become the most attractive scenery on Chang'an Street, nowhere else is more ideal than here in terms of space. A major drawback is that the freedom of flying a kite can be somewhat limited due to the surrounding crowds (mostly tourists).
2. Chaoyang Park - The north side of the green area in the park is the best place to fly a kite. No trees around, no buildings, more importantly, it is permitted to fly kites on the grass areas. But be careful not to trip yourself when running.
3. Surrounding areas of the Panda Rotary Island - It is spacious, fewer vehicles and people, does not have any obstacles, with a bit of history of flying kites. Expert kite lovers normally like to get together here.
4. Chinese Century World - Here most advantage is there are very few trees, the kite may freely fly around in much wider range. But the Century World's artificial lawn has limited load-bearing capacity, the lawn is well maintained and protected, growing of the grass may be affected if too many people keep stepping on it.
5. Shijingshan Amusement Park - The open area in front of the park is the best place for family of three or lovers to fly kites. The problems are the park is next to the street, there are trees around, therefore kites can not be released too high. Other drawbacks are there are stairs in the park, the central park has an eruptive fountain, you'd better be careful when running on the slippery ground.
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