This weekend, New Taipei City’s Baishawan (白沙灣) beach becomes a theater for kites and the people who fly them.
It’s an annual event held since 2000, and clubs come in from around the world to perform shows or compete. This year, the lineup is about 150 top fliers from 12 countries, including Italian kitemaker Edo Borghetti and Indonesia’s Liannawati Lie, who will demo a hand-sewn horse that won the most creative kite award at the Pasir Gudang World Kite Festival.
From Yunlin County, Hsu Hong-nan (許宏男) is bringing his traditional folk kites to Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the Yunlin Kite Association
His club, the Yunlin Kite Association (雲林縣風箏委員會), specializes in long kite trains that thrive in high-wind conditions. This weekend the club will perform with three of its creations, such as a Peking opera mask kite that took 100 hours to complete.
“It’s made in the traditional way from bamboo processing to the binding of the skeleton, all the way down to the mask painting and post-production adjustments,” Hsu said.
An elementary school principal by day, Hsu has been making traditional folk kites in his spare time for 25 years.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Stunt Kites Promotion Association
“Building is a beautiful art, and kiting is even better. When I was a boy I would make kites out of newspaper and my mother would scold me because I stole string from her to fly them,” he said.
SIDESHOWS
Unlike many kite festivals, which exclusively cater to seasoned kite fighters or skilled fliers, the New Taipei City North Coast International Kite Festival (新北市北海岸國際風箏節) positions itself as a sprawling kite-themed carnival that can also draw the general public.
Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department
Coordinated by the Shimen District Office (石門區公所), it will see about 60 stalls with specialty snacks and local agricultural produce.
There’s live music, dance performances, weaving workshops, a public vote on favorite kite design and a free-fly zone for the novice flier.
“Everybody is welcome to bring a kite and fly it, even without registering,” said Wu Tsung-jen (巫宗仁), executive director of the Shimen District Office.
“We’ve also asked the international and domestic teams to teach lessons on kite-making,” he said.
New to this year is a large-scale installation of handmade heart kites and bouquets of wild-lily kites, a showpiece themed on weddings and designed as a photo opportunity.
A night kite show starts tomorrow at 7pm, featuring fireworks choreographed with LED-studded stunt kites in the sky. For a full schedule of events, visit www.ntpc-kite.tw.
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