| Kite flying is one of the oldest pastimes in | | | | first Chinese kites were probably made of |
| the world. No one can say with certainty | | | | wood. This could well be, though a case could |
| precisely how old it is, but we do know that | | | | be made out that they might have had a bamboo |
| it goes back for many centuries, and that the | | | | framework with a silk cover, since silk is |
| beginnings of the story have an eastern | | | | said to have been used there as far back as |
| setting. On the latter point, more will be | | | | 4,000 years ago. It is probable that by the |
| said in a moment. In the meantime, this may | | | | fourth century this material was being used. |
| be said. In its general significance, the | | | | About the year A.D. 105 the Chinese |
| invention of the kite stands out as an | | | | discovered a method of making paper sheets |
| expression of man's age-old and universal | | | | from vegetable fiber. This made available |
| longing to conquer the air. | | | | another suitable covering material. |
| | | | |
| It cannot be said with precision just how or | | | | When we turn to the purposes for which kites |
| when thoughts about flying began to occupy | | | | were used in those far-off days, much that is |
| man's mind. What is known, however, is that | | | | of interest may be noted. Ancient Chinese |
| from the time he began to write and to draw, | | | | historians have recorded that they were |
| the idea of flight was present; an idea which | | | | employed to carry ropes across rivers and |
| was born, no doubt, through watching the | | | | gorges. The ropes were made fast and wooden |
| birds in their travels, doing what he himself | | | | bridges suspended from them. It is said that |
| could not do. The ability which he himself | | | | a general of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. |
| did not possess he bestowed upon the beings | | | | 221) put the enemy to flight by flying |
| born of his imagination. In ancient stories | | | | musical kites over their camp at night. The |
| of superhuman mastery of the elements, gods | | | | enemy fled, because they believed that the |
| and devils transport themselves with wings, | | | | music was the voices of their guardian |
| and men and beasts also navigate the air. | | | | angels, warning them of coming danger. There |
| Thus in one way or another man's interest in | | | | is a tradition, too, that man-lifting kites |
| flight was sustained, and in the course of | | | | were used in attacks on cities, and to drop |
| time this interest led to various attempts to | | | | men behind enemy lines. It is difficult to |
| achieve mastery of the air. | | | | say when this strategy was first employed, so |
| | | | no date can be given. It is known, however, |
| In the story of man's conquest of the air, | | | | that the Chinese and the Japanese used |
| kites have an important place. It cannot be | | | | man-lifting kites to survey the enemy's |
| said with certainty who invented them or when | | | | position as early as the seventeenth century |
| they were first flown. Ancient Greek | | | | A.D. |
| tradition ascribes the invention to Archytas | | | | |
| of Tarentum in the fourth century B.C. The | | | | There is a tradition that kites were known in |
| Koreans attribute the origin of the kite to a | | | | Ancient Greece and Rome. One should not be |
| general who, in the dim and distant past, put | | | | too dogmatic on this point. On the other |
| fresh courage into his troops by sending up a | | | | hand, taking fourth century China as the |
| kite to which a lantern was fixed. They | | | | starting point, one may confidently trace the |
| believed that it was a new star and a sign of | | | | spread of kite flying all over Asia and |
| divine help. | | | | beyond, extending to such countries as New |
| | | | Zealand. The Maoris are said to have fastened |
| Above the mists of speculation the fourth | | | | perforated reeds to their kites. It was |
| century B.C. stands as a landmark. It is | | | | believed that the sounds which they made |
| established that by this time kites were | | | | would scare off evil spirits. |
| well-known in China. It is said that the | | | | |