Kite Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Cao-family kite craft is a folk traditional handicraft transmitted in Beijing to this day, based on the kite diagrams and rhymed formulae recorded in the Qing-dynasty "Nanyao Beiyuan Kaogong Zhi" (Treatise on the Craft of Southern Kites and Northern Yuan).
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The book "Nanyao Beiyuan Kaogong Zhi" summarises 43 techniques of framing and papering kites, and reduces the craft process to the four arts of framing, papering, painting and flying; using the kite as a vehicle to reflect China's profound cultural connotations, and employing the expressive forms of imagery aesthetics, personification and patterning, it manifests a high traditional cultural value. The Cao-family kite is made from materials such as bamboo, paper, thin silk and silk, through the processes of framing, papering and painting. This making technique is characterised by excellent material selection, fine craftsmanship, brilliant colours and graceful shapes. It applies bionics principles and the unique "detaching the mould" technique to make kite works such as birds and animals that are lifelike and reduce the kite's weight. Cao-family kite works are novel in style and rich in variety; their subject matter includes historical allusions, local legends, folk customs, and realistic depiction, with a distinct ancient-capital cultural character.
Archival process-step record
The book "Nanyao Beiyuan Kaogong Zhi" summarises 43 techniques of framing and papering kites, and reduces the craft process to the four arts of framing, papering, painting and flying; using the kite as a vehicle to reflect China's profound cultural connotations, and employing the expressive forms of imagery aesthetics, personification and patterning, it manifests a high traditional cultural value.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The kite-making technique is centred on Haidian District of Beijing, and together with Weifang, Langfang and Nantong is a major centre for flying in the north and Jiangnan; Beijing's kite workshops are mostly scattered through the city's hutongs, combining making and flying. The Cao-family kite is made from bamboo, paper, thin silk and silk through the processes of framing, papering and painting; this making technique is characterised by excellent material selection and fine craftsmanship, and is a lineage of the kites made for the Qing court.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Ha Yiqi (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): male, Hui ethnicity, born in March 1954, a native of Beijing. A representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Kite-making Technique (Beijing Ha-family Kite-making Technique)." A first-grade folk craft master of Beijing, and a research fellow of folk art creation at the China Art Research Institute. He inherits and develops the Ha-family kite technique, with select materials, distinctive shapes and bright colours. His works have been exhibited in more than thirty countries including Germany, France and the United States, and collected by foreign museums such as the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, a French museum, and the Osaka Municipal Museum of Ethnography in Japan. He authored "Chinese Ha-family Kites," "The Art of Chinese Ha-family Kites," and "Painting Manual of Chinese Ha-family Kites." He trained five apprentices including Wang Ning and Ha Xin. Kong Lingmin (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in November 1947, a native of Beijing. A representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Kite-making Technique (Beijing Kite-making Technique)." Since 1960 he has learned the kite-making craft from his father Kong Xiangze; the kites he frames are finely crafted, of many varieties, and combine form and spirit, closely tied to the life of the times, with more than forty kinds such as the five-dragon swallow and the paired swallows. He founded a kite factory for the disabled, helped open kite craft workshops in rural areas, transmitted the kite-making technique, and contributed to promoting employment for persons with disabilities and rural residents. His works have won many awards domestically and been exhibited in Japan, Greece, the United States and other countries; with his father Kong Xiangze and son Kong Bingzhang he co-authored "The Kite Art of Cao Xueqin."
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Guo Chengyi 01-0197
- Han Fuling 03-1345
- Wei Yongzhen 03-1346
- Hayiqi 04-1867
- Fei Baoling 04-1868
- Wei Guoqiu 04-1869
- Kong Lingmin 05-2781
- Zhang Xiaodong 05-2782
- Yang Hongwei
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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