Weifang City administration carries out multiple strategies for promoting kite activities, from the cultural, industrial and tourist point of view.
This city holds an old tradition in building and designing kites, having generated its own style that differentiates it from the models developed in Beijin, Tianjin or Nantong. Perhaps, the most emblematic model is the dragon. But the drive given to the kite activity was thanks to the local government initiative; it promotes sustaining a kite manufacturing industry massively, with trade exchange as suppliers at local and global level.
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On the other hand, it created and maintains a huge Kite Museum, a Folk Art Cultural Center, in Yangjiabu, and the International Kite Festival. It is also the International Kite Federation site. Let’s think, in a parallelism, about the local organizations that perform certain economic activities, namely, Viticulture (winery tours for tourists, Grape Harvest Festivity, etc.); i.e., there are resources, officers, business chambers, amateurs, clubs, managing the whole activity in their own way, giving us an idea of the event magnitude.
Well, the idea is to tell you about our experience during the Festival. And, as when you warn you are not a traitor, I wish to warn you that this was the first time I attended an international kite festival, so I’m bound to commit some omissions or naiveties, which I hope readers can correct.
Héctor, Rosa María, Claris and me departed from Beijin to Quindao Airport, loaded with our gear. When we arrived, a bus and local guiders were waiting for us and other participants, and we were driven to Weifang City, some an hour and a half away from the Airport, traveling through a modern highway. Claris led the public affairs, warmly greeting the just arriving kitefliers, and, thus started the introductions and usual chatting. When we were near Weigang, we were caught by a little surprise: the bus driver drove past the highway exit we should take. So, he halted the bus, turned around, and returned by the highway… against the traffic, as cool as a cucumber! It took us some minutes to recover from our freight and tension.
We arrived to the hotel, a brand-new and comfortable one, where, after the check-in, we were introduced to Audrey, our interpreter and guider during our stay in Weifang. She would become our shade in the next days, but her kindness, patience and efficiency in handling the time, the visits, and the arrangements at the flying field, deserve our deep gratitude to her! Greetings, introductions, coordination meeting, and at the end of the day, Welcome Banquet. Yes, it’s true, a kiteflier’s life is quite sacrificed… It was a fantastic dinner: a sumptuous reception room, a perfect service, some speeches, and many somewhat merry and amusing kitefliers.
The following day we attended the Plenary Meeting from the International Kite Federation; an interesting agenda covering subjects, such as, the sports activity promotion, the protection of original kite designs against non-authorized massively traded copies (long discussion), the participation of local administrations in the activity promotion, etc. It supplied us an interesting panorama about the present international kiteflying world. We had also time to visit the Weifang Kite Museum and explore some nearby shops. But that is for another article.
In the afternoon, we went to a big “dry” square; I think it was People’s Square: no lighting, no trees, no cables. The idea was to visit an exhibition by kite manufacturers to be performed outdoors. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, cold and rainy, which conspired against the exhibitors presence. Not much to see. Yet, a group of local and foreign kitefliers –including us- had the opportunity of flying some devices at the site. There appear dragons, bees, squates, a couple of commanded ones, and a complete revolution team performing their practices. Suddenly, the music sounded at the “dry” square; the local visitors began to move while we watched amazed, trying to guess what was happening. Well, the square turned into a big array of fountains dancing in time to the music, generating an interesting scenography for the kites. We ran from one side to the other trying to avoid getting wet. We spent the afternoon surrounded by kites, water and posing for the local people, eager to take some pictures with us. Well, let’s say that with the foreigners… we weren’t that pretty and popular. Up to that moment.
In the late afternoon we went to the see the Festival opening ceremony. An enormous arena, really enormous. Everything surprised us, because we didn’t know what would the event consist of. All the delegations entered from the back. We knew that we had to be on the stage; somewhat nervous, a little puzzled, and surrounded by a great number of volunteers dressed in bright clothes and carrying kites, waiting for the choreography execution. We got out on the huuuge stage, and with all the delegations, we greeted with great emotion and quite a lot of fuss, at the also vast number of persons that were on the stalls. Afterwards, we sat among the public to watch the show: singers, dancers, music, big screens; a really great display of resources to start the party. No doubt, we were speechless after such exhibition. We returned to the hotel and prepared the things. The next day, we would be on the flying field.
The next day, around ten buses drove us, the foreign participants, to the flying field, located some kilometers South of the city. A large boulevard and a terrace give way to a very big building, where the Official Box is located. Up there, it was really impressive the sight, considering the amount of people present and the site dimensions. We walked to the place assigned to us, between giant kites, people, music bands, kitefliers; everything was color, bustle and surprise. With music, roaring bursts and speeches, it was opened the ceremo
The delegations from other countries present came from Holland, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, USA, Canada, Malaysia, Finland, Bangladesh, Iran, Italy, France, Argentina, Germany, Singapore, Afghanistan. In addition, there was a great number of teams coming from different China towns.
Several contests took place during the two days: competitions among acrobatic kite teams, fighters, the longest kite train, the best inflatable, the best flight, acrobatic ballet, traditional kites. We had registered in two, best flight and traditional kites. And I admit that we had a pleasant surprise on the first contest. At the moment of competing, the wind conditions were really bad: very strong wind, with powerful gusts. Most competitors carried beautiful designs that, I guess, would have flown really good. But, unfortunately, the wind would break many rods and invalid the results. Under this scenario, Claris, Héctor, Rosa María and me decided to change the models and exhibit Claris’ Wasp and a traditional kite built by Samy Gilmarino, from La Plata, Buenos Aires. It was quite hard to let them fly; we had to adjust the hoisting ropes, add tails, and finally, there they went. They flew really well. The judges congratulated us but, frankly speaking, we had no expectation. Until the next day, when they called to tell us that we had won a prize.
Both festival days passed with a rather fast dynamics: flying our stuff; admiring the designs we watched; greeting the delegations; posing for the thousand pictures they took us; taking a detailed photo of the models that surprised us; exchanging personal cards; receiving compliments; paying attention to the judges’ instructions; well, tired out but happy.
Below there’s a good deal of photos where you can see the varied models we found. Particularly, the dragons, the kite trains (the winner was 4 Km long!), the Japanese designs; those from Indonesia. I also wish to highlight the magnificent fireworks that rounded off the first festival day. It’s hard to describe them, for their beauty, duration and splendid display.
The awards ceremony night was very emotive and amusing; a splendid dinner with a generous amount of drinks and meals. And the little pride of carrying our plaque home.
Summing up the experience,
- Kitefliers are all amusing, hard-working, generous and very kind.
- The festival was perfectly organized; it was always noticed that there were all type of resources available.
- The festival is intended for Weifang people’s participation; there are practically no restraints for moving around the flying field. Thus, the public could fly and interact with kitefliers.
- It is an ideal opportunity for interacting and learning.
- And I think that it poses an interesting challenge to all of us; to make altogether an effort and get a design set that would identify us, similarly to what it happens when we see an Edo, a Swallow, a Wau-bulan, or a Squate: We know the culture it represents or who created it.
Gustavo
Clip Reuters with an interview to Claris,
