The 11 Well-known Kite Families in Weifang

文：姜连少张崇高

Chen Shanting (1822-1874), also known as “Chen Zhacai”and “Dumb Chen” was the most famous kite artisan in Weifang during the Qing Dynasty. Chen was especially good at making human figure kites. He also borrowed the techniques of making human-figure kites into the design of kites resembling animals and livestock. His creations of the 12 cycled animals of Chinese lunar calendar were best-loved kites among people. Chen was also known as a master hand for traditional style painting and giving life to the figures he created. Now there are still some of his draft paintings spread among the people.

The Tang Family Kite Workshop has a history of more than 300 years. Originated from the late Ming Dynasty, the kite-making family first sold kites in Qingzhou, Laizhou and Yizhou. During the reign of Emperor Xian Feng in Qing Dynasty, the Tang Family Kite Workshop was formally started. The family workshop was known to work day and night for making festoons for rich families in Weixian County for the events of both weddings and funerals. The kite family has preserved in secret for generations a book called “Illustrations for Festoons”which introduced the process of making 21 varieties of string, bucket-shaped, hard-wing kites and colorful lanterns. Tang Yanshou, the fourth generation of the Tang family, blazed new trails in the pictographic kites and made the images he created with more realistic touch. To make “Swallow”kites, he raised birds in his home for careful observation. His “Double Swallows”kite, with dark-green wings and white eyes and tails, looked so vivid and lifelike that people could recognize for a glance that the kite was a product of the Tang family.

Zhang Yanlu was not highly skilled in making kites. The reason why he could squeeze into the 11 well-known kite families in Weifang is largely due to his good management of his kite workshop. Zhang opened his kite workshop when he was 20. The young man retained fame mostly because of his enthusiasm in explaining to his customers the skills in making kites and telling legendary stories about kites. His workshop was always a full house with people coming to hear his stories and buy kites. The workshop he owned was so famous in Weifang that it turned later on to be a wholesale market in the county own and retailed kites across the country.

Zhang also took much effort on the study of craftsmanship of various kite masters in Weifang and improved the technique of “Center-tie”according to the principles of mechanics and the wind condition in spring in North China. His “Center-tie”technique was then widely adopted by kite masters and greatly enhanced the balancing effect of kites.

The kite master Mu Dan is specially known for the colorful peony flowers she painted on the bucket-shaped kites. Daughter of the well-known Weifang folk artist Mu Hengbang, she created “The Peony Fairy”out of the inspiration of her paintings. Her design, unique from other popular styles, was a joint one consisting of two unconnected frames: a human figure and a basket with peony flowers. When flying, the human-figure kite was flown first before the flower kite was brought to the sky along the kite line. Unfortunately the craft had been lost.

The kites made by Guo Qiuxin could be detached and folded and were easy to fly. He was skilled at making a kite into separate parts. For example, he stalled muff couplings at the joint points of the kites such as the“Eagle” the “Cicada” the “Dragonfly”and the “Crane and Celestial Boy” Guos kites were well-received because he made kites simple to patch up and easy to be kept in store.

The first kite that Hu Jingzhu made was a dragon-head centipede kite. With superb workmanship and fine brushwork in painting, he earned fame soon as a master in making string kites. Hu was particularly exquisite in choosing materials and attaining good balancing effect for his kites. It was said that his kites could fly up high easily. A kite artisan from Tianjin once recalled that a kite fan used to note down the whole producing process of Hus string kite and it was later on widespread among kite-making fans.

Though Yangjiabu is only a small town in Weifang, it is known all over the country for the reason that almost everyone from the town is gifted in painting New Year pictures. With a distinctive feature comparing to kites made in others places of Weifang, the Yangjiabu kites have assimilated the art of the local New Year Painting. Yang Tongke was known as one of the most outstanding persons who successfully combined the two artistic forms into the making of kites.

Born in 1902, Yang was the most renowned kite artisan in Yangjiabu. After studying comprehensively about Yangjiabu New Year Painting and techniques of kite-making, he created his own style based on the traditional Yangjiabu three-colored flat kite. He tied countless kites in a span of more than half a century. Once, when asked how many kinds of kites he was capable of making, he replied: “Any kind and every kind”

Most of the kites made by Yang Wanshan were flat- or bucket-shaped. One of his biggest contributions was the innovation and development for the technique of the “Weifang bumping kites” His family once collected more than 20 styles of bumping kites from both North and South of the country. His bumpy kites could fly up high in the sky to scatter flowers and then return to the ground. Yang was also known near and afar for his superb skill in tying kites. He was particularly scrupulous about detail in tying the frames of kites.Under his hands, bamboo strips were all smoothly scraped without any burr and no trace of ironing on fire could be found in the winding parts.

Han Lianxi never learnt how to make kites from any master. Yet, he is a good “stealer”of the craft. He was once an apprentice of a coppersmith and a helper in Mu Hengbangs kite shop. Influenced by the style of the Mu familys craftsmanship, he created his own style by incorporating the strong points of different styles of various kite families. His hard-wing kites, with unique designs, include “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea” “Suwu Herds Sheep” “Zhongxun Catches Ghost” “Li Kui Visits His Mother and “Crane and Celestial Boy” During the a Weifang kite competition held in the spring of 1993, Hans hard-wing kites made a stir among audiences for his unconventional ideas in design and smooth flying. After the contest, he sent five of his works to kite fans and won himself high reputation ever since.

Kang Wanxiang could make dragon heads of various styles for his dragon-head centipede kites. His kites were so outstanding among others with distinctive designs and masterly use of colors that they retained the name as “Kang School”kites. Most of his kites were string kites of dragon. He borrowed the technique in the use of color from both traditional folk kites with sharp and blocks of colors and the realistic style of Weifang kite masters.

The kites painted by Sun Yongchun can best present the freehand brushwork of the traditional Chinese paining. Sun was born in 1924 in a poor folk artists family. His grandfather was an artisan of making festoons and supported the family by selling paintings and coppersmith works. His father was a well-known kite maker. In 1928, the Sun family opened the Qingchun Kite Workshop. Sun Yongchun is good at making string kites. Never sticking to old ways, Sun established his own style of painting on kites by absorbing elements from traditional Chinese painting. Most of his works are characterized by high aesthetic taste.