Liu Bin runs Three Stone Kite, a family workshop in Beijing that makes kites the old-fashioned way. He laments the decline of the tradition since the glory days of the Qing dynasty and the lack of appreciation for the craft today.
How do you make a kite?
Making a kite involves more than 200 steps, and each requires concentration of the mind. First, you pick a stick of bamboo and examine it for tiny defects. Use a fine knife, and keep prying the bamboo open until you get enough long and narrow strips. Each must be straight and even, as they will make the frame. To make the frame curve, you have to heat it with a candle. When the frame is ready, you sketch, paint, dye and cut a piece of silk, and stick it to the frame. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Sometimes it takes me more than a month.
How did your family come into this trade?
My great-grandfather made kites for fun, then he realised he could sell them for a good price. In the Qing dynasty, a kite cost what an ordinary person could earn in half a year, so his biggest customers were elite families. According to my grandfather, my great-grandfather spent most of his life improving the quality of the craft. He experimented with all different types of bamboo and decided a species found only in Jiangxi was the best for the frame. He also tested various types of silk, which is a much better material than paper because it is lighter, more durable and allows winds to pass through more smoothly. After much searching, he eventually found a silk he liked in Jiangsu that is fine and sturdy. We are beneficiaries of his hard work and genius. We are using the same materials and technique that he developed in the late Qing dynasty.
Has the business prospered since then?