#HUMAN DIY KITE HOW TO#

So he decided to write a complete book on the basis of this guidebook. However the book was written in ancient Chinese writing and Fei felt difficult to understand the words.Īs he studied it further more, he found the copy incomplete with some versified formulas and pictures being missing. 'It preceded Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck or other Disney's cartoon figures by at least 150 years,' said Fei. In the book, there are as many as 400 types of swallow kites in various sizes. Cao used this to personify the beautiful life and eternity, even love. Swallow was the main figure used by Cao Xueqin in his kite making guidebook. Though Fei Baoling needn't to support his family by selling kites, he regarded it his duty to let the world know the art of this business. He decided to write a book about kite making.

'The basic way to help people is teaching them the skill to make a living rather than helping them with money,' said Cao Xueqin. Cao Xueqin was delighted with his good fortune. This year, the news was good: Cao Xueqin's kites sold well and Yu's family had plenty to eat. Yu Shude knew that Cao was a wonderful kite-maker, so he asked Cao to make several model kites for him to follow the style and sell them for a living.Ī year later, Yu visited Cao again. Although Cao himself lived a hard life, he determined to help Yu to overcome his terrible situation. The book, published two hundreds years ago, provided details of traditional Chinese kite making skill.Īs Fei studied the book, he found the purpose of Cao Xueqin in writing this book was to help his poor friend, Yu Shude, and other others. Of course, Fei wouldn't say 'No' to such a chance. If you have any interest in it, I can show you the book,' said Kong. 'My father's grandpa got a book with kite diagrams written by Cao Xueqin. If you came to my house, I could show you more kites like this,' answered Fei. 'Cao Xueqin? Did he make kites, too? I only know that he is famous for the novel, but I made them all by myself. But the style of your kite did look like Cao Xueqin's,' said Kong. 'Why, is there anything wrong with my kite?' 'No, nothing is wrong.

#HUMAN DIY KITE HOW TO#

Kong asked him, 'Have you ever read books telling you how to make kite or did anyone else teach you how to make a kite in this way?' There, he met Kong Xiangze, who had a pencil-written copy of The Guidebook of Kite Making. During the recovery period, he, as a kite fan ever since the childhood, often went to the Tian'anmen Square to fly a kite he had made. In 1963, when Fei was 36, he had an operation and two thirds of his stomach were cut out. Also, she helped him a lot in making kites in the past years.įei Baoling came across Cao Xueqin's school of kite making accidentally and later developed it to a new stage. With glasses on her nose, she was knitting a sweater for her husband. If I hadn't happened to make friend with Fei Baoling, the only exponent of Cao's kite school, I would never have known it, either.įei, 74, lives in a small and clean yard with his retired wife, Xu Juying, 68, in Beijing. A lot of people know that Cao Xueqin (1715-1764) of the Qing Dynasty wrote the novel A Dream of Red Mansions, which tells the romantic and tragic love story of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, but few of them know that Cao was also an expert of kite making and wrote the book The Guidebook of Kite Making.

Human diy kite