The 2023 National Kite Invitation Tournament and Jiangsu Kite Elite Tournament kicked off on Saturday at the Xiaoyangkou Kite Base in Rudong County. Nearly a hundred kites of different shapes competed under the blue sky and white clouds, playing a symphony in the air and delivering a wonderful visual feast to the audience.
The National Kite Invitation Tournament consists of 13 competition events, including traditional kites, modern kites, competitive kites, and performance events. The Jiangsu Kite Elite Competition has 11 competition events.both competitions attracted a total of 41 teams from all over the country and more than 300 participants.
Zhao Honghai from Shenyang demonstrated an 80 meter long octopus soft kite, which took six months to complete and became an absolute giant.
“The difficulty of this kite is that it must rely on a team to fly, requiring at least a combination of 6 to 8 people to fly, because the lifting force is very strong in all aspects, and it needs to be towed by a car rather than pulled by humans”, Zhao Honghai, a member of Liaoning Red Sail Kite Club, said.
In this competition, Rudong launched its first night lit kite competition, with participating kites equipped with LED lights that flicker while rising, illuminating the night sky. In the competition, changes in lighting, brightness, area, shape, and aerial effects are the criteria for judging excellence. The night light kite competition has made Rudong, the "hometown of Chinese kites", more attractive. In recent years, the local government has held 22 consecutive sessions of the China Rudong Kite Festival, creating an important platform for improving kite skills and inheriting and promoting traditional kite culture.
“Jiangsu ranks among the top kite competitions in the country, and the one in Rudong is a very long-standing competition in our system”, Zhang Ke, Deputy Secretary General of China Kite Association, said.
