Chinese Inventions: the kite
Hannah and Omar
Chinese Kite
The kite above would carry letters and sometimes even people!
History of the Chinese Kite
Large kites were used to carry warriors armed with bows and arrows that would fire down on the enemy. In the 13th century Marco Polo wrote about how the shipping merchants tied some protesting sailor to a huge kite and launched the kite with the wind before the ship set sail. If the kite went high and straight it meant a quick and prosperous voyage but if it crashed or did not fly well it was a bad omen.
The Chinese built many colorful kites for fun and they were widely used in religious ceremonies. More sophisticated kites were used to test weather conditions. As a forerunner to balloons and gliders they were important to the advancement of controlled flight.
Chinese kites underwent great development in size, design, decoration and flying ills. Liberators at that time made kite by themselves, and sent to relatives and friends as a gift, regarding it a literary pursuit. In recent years, kite flying has publicized as a sports activity as well as entertainment.