The kites

Swallows, dragon centipedes, eagles, soft carp, line and reels. All made at 41 Kite Lane and flown once on the field before they are posted.

A crowd of painted bird and butterfly kites filling a blue sky
A small rainbow kite with a long tail high in a cloudy blue sky
A pink kite with a looping ribbon tail against a white sky
A painted swallow kite in red, black and yellow, framed on a white wall
Swallows

Fat swallow on silk, framed

CN¥380

Painted kite panel · 60 × 50 cm frame

Two pink and orange bird kites flying side by side against a blue sky
Swallows

Pink swallow pair

CN¥168

Two kites · 70 cm span · 30 m line each

A red and yellow kite with long tails climbing into a clear blue sky
Swallows

Cinnabar swallow

CN¥128

90 cm span · bamboo and silk

A red bird kite hanging beside red lanterns lettered with Chinese characters
Swallows

Lucky red swallow

CN¥220

110 cm span · hand-lettered wings

A long Chinese dragon kite with a painted head and a tail of round discs flying in the sky
Dragons

Dragon centipede, 30 m

CN¥1,680

64 silk discs · flies in 4–8 m/s

A dragon centipede kite hanging straight down the sky from its painted head
Dragons

Dragon centipede, 12 m

CN¥760

26 silk discs · fits a car boot

A blue and gold dragon kite with red whiskers flying close overhead
Dragons

Blue-and-gold dragon

CN¥940

2.4 m wingspan · ripstop silk

An eagle kite with spread brown wings flying among other kites
Birds of prey

Golden eagle

CN¥298

1.5 m span · painted feathers

A red hawk kite flying at sunset above a crowd watching from the field
Birds of prey

Red-tail hawk

CN¥260

1.2 m span · single line

A flyer in red launching a long scaled carp kite beside a pond
Soft & 3D

Carp kite

CN¥340

2 m body · soft, no spars

Soft whale and octopus kites with long legs floating against a pale sky
Soft & 3D

Whale and octopus pair

CN¥580

Two soft kites · 4 m tails

A spool of bright red braided line on a marble table
Lines & reels

Red braided line

CN¥38

100 m · 30 kg breaking strain

Spools of waxed cotton line in rust, blue and brown packed side by side
Lines & reels

Waxed cotton line set

CN¥95

5 × 200 m · waxed cotton

A young man on a beach at sunset holding up his kite line and reel
Lines & reels

Wooden hand reel

CN¥145

Jujube wood · holds 300 m

A stack of finished red, green and white kites piled on the bench

In the tube with every kite

30 m of line

Wound on a card winder, already tied to the bridle. Untie nothing, just walk backwards.

A spare spar

One split bamboo strip and a small pot of fish glue, for the day a branch wins.

A slip from Liu Meihua

Written by hand: which wind this kite likes and the date it first flew on our field.

Spools of thread in brown, white and rust lined up on paper

Sent from Weifang

SF Express reaches most of mainland China in two to four days, and it's free on orders over CN¥300.

Abroad we use EMS, seven to fourteen days, with the tube marked fragile in three languages.

A kite that breaks in its first year comes back to the bench and we mend it for the cost of postage.

Green, black and yellow kites with tassels hung edge to edge on a wall

Kites for a whole school?

Festival orders, class sets of forty swallows and club dragons take about four weeks. Tell us the date and we'll plan the bench around it.

Write to Wang Lan