The first thing you notice are the colorful kites, bold, cheerful spectrums of color shouting "Hey, look at me! I can fly!" Most of these belong to children, but I was surprised to see that many were also under the control of old timers. There were many kite samplings on this sporadically windy, slightly, chilly Saturday afternoon. I was snapping pictures when suddenly approached by a young man, probably in his early thirties, who, as we learned from his friendly banter was from my wife's hometown. He cheerfully told us that if we walked over to the other side of the park that we would see even more kites. We followed his suggestion and headed west, through the colorful playground and concession area, admiring the sculptures along the way. A quick note about the charm of Chinese playgrounds, often times they are two playgrounds in one, one for the kids and one for the unbelievably healthy elderly of the region. Body weight exercises; pull up bars and stretching machines sit side by side with jungle gyms and swing sets, both sides full of smiling, chatting Beijingers. There was even an ancient, serene looking man doing sets of pull ups like he was in the Marine Corps, I'll bet he KNOWS something, I thought to myself.
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Dragon head kite. [Yu Zhiqiang from China Pictorial]
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Finally, we began to see more kites up ahead. It was here that I first saw bird kites, not some delta-winged plastic with Harvey Birdman painted on it, but honest to goodness birds, steely looking raptors with the ability to terrify small animals from a great height. My eyes followed the silk line down to the man in charge of the most elegantly flying bird. I was not disappointed to find a smiling, yet intent looking man in his sixties. The Chinese in general are a friendly people, especially towards visitors, but I began to notice that these kite flyers were an exceptionally friendly lot and seemed more than happy to show off their kites and skills to an interested foreign guy.
Offering to fly it high and make it behave like an eagle so I could get some better shots, he laughingly wouldn't give me his name, but told me that he has already been interviewed five times and is worried about getting too famous. However, as I was the first foreigner to talk to him he was delighted to share a bit of his philosophy with me. We also found that he was actually well into his nineties. "I've been making and flying kites for about seven years now, but I do it every day I can, so I guess it's something important to me. There's something special in it, something old, makes you feel connected. And you've got to get to know the wind." My wife sheepishly asked if it was like shaking hands with the wind. He looked at her pleasantly and maybe a little surprised. "Yes little sister, I think it is."
Feeling as if we'd already gotten what we came for, we headed back to the east side of the park, hoping to see more. My wife suddenly pulled my arm and pointed at a kite she knew I would like, undoubtedly the simplest, purest one in the sky. A simple octagonal piece of paper held together by the thinnest of bamboo, with 15 feet of double tail and a hand painted Chinese symbol called bagua, a symbol holding within it, all of the simplicities, complexities and mysteries of the universe. The bagua is used in everything from fengshui to martial arts and is something of interest to me. Feeling as if there was no way this wasn't another master of wind and peacefulness we headed over the small hill as fast as we could. There he was, an ancient wizened figure, the very picture of a legendary master, his long eyebrows hid eyes that had seen and understood great mysteries, his long beard nearly swept the earth. No, actually it was the young guy who had told us about the other side of the park.
"Baby, it's your hometown dude." I said with more than a hint of disappointment. Again, I found that I had much to learn, just as something as simple as kites on wind may hold mystery, often so do people.
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The frame of a dragon. [Yu Zhiqiang from China Pictorial]
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He greeted us like old friends as he reeled in his kite. He asked if we had seen anything good and we chatted about the kites and the people we had met. He offered to show us a twenty-meter long snake kite and then he did. Its spiraling movement echoed something in my own mind, something that had been touched upon by the old man we had spoken to a few moments ago. I started to pay more attention to this guy. He was young, with a certain ruggedness that suggested a man who really works for a living, rather tough looking and so…happy. That's really all I can say, his face would light up as he spoke, he was just plain happy. "So you like flying kites?" I asked lamely.
