At the Binhai International Kite Flying Field, international students were impressed by kites in various shapes such as insects, aircraft, spacecraft. They kept taking pictures of these flying kites and exclaimed in an excited voice, “The kites are amazing. This is the first time I have seen so many kinds of kites!”
On April 15, the “Friendly Shandong, Remarkable Shandong ‘I love you’” activity for foreign students visited Weifang City, E China. International students and foreign teachers from Weifang University flew kites here to immerse themselves in the Weifang International Kite Festival.
“I just knew that Weifang is konwn as the World Kite Capital before I came here to study. This time in the 40th Weifang International Kite Festival, all these diverse kites are totally beyond my imagination.” Chibundo from Nigeria said.
A giant, long Chinese Loong-shaped kite created by Zhang Xiaodong, a national intangible cultural inheritor of the Weifang kite, attracted expats since its body was painted with flags of different countries. They were thrilled to take pictures with the flag of their home country.
Yu Zhaoren, a kite flyer who has been attending the festival for 40 years, said that kites, as a typical Weifang culture, enjoy more than 2,000 years of history, starting with Lu Ban's creation of a wood kite. And, due to its novel shape and high production difficulty, it requires great skill to create a Chinese loong-shaped kite, making it one of the best types of Weifang kites.
After the introduction, Yu warmly invited expats to assemble and fly this ‘unique’ Chinese Loong-shaped kite together with him.
“Unbelievable! I love flying kites most of all! I was shocked by the kite festival today, and personally flying a big kite painted with our national flag made me so happy and proud. It’s really worth the trip!” said Ernest from Rwanda.
On April 23, a civil reading campaign was held in a civic cultural center library in the West Coast New Area in Qingdao, China’s Shandong province. People are seen enjoying the joy of reading in the library. (Photo by Han Jiajun)
