High flying dreams

Chinese kite

China is the homeland of kites, also known as ‘paper birds’.  Kites have been made in China for more than 2,000 years. It was said that the craftsman Lu Ban "cut bamboo in the shape of a magpie and flew it". This is considered as the predecessor of kites.

Li Ye who lived during the period of the ‘Five Dynasties’, once in his office linked a line to fly a kite as a game.  He also put a bamboo flute at the head of the kite.  When flying in the wind, the flute made the same sounds as the zheng, an ancient musical instrument, and so was called the 'flying zheng.'

In the Song Dynasty, a 'magic fiery crow' appeared.  It was a kite fitted with gunpowder and flew above the camps of the enemies, so as to achieve military objectives.

No wonder the famous British scholar Joseph Needham included kites as one of the major scientific inventions of the Chinese nation.

In 1749, British scientists put a thermometer on each of six flying kites. This was the first time the temperature of the atmosphere at high altitudes had been measured.

In 1877, the Russian naval officer Mozhaiskeasky, for the first time tied himself to a big kite pulled by a troika and flew with the kite for 10 minutes.

In 1893, the U.S. National Weather Service constructed 17 high-flying observatories and flew them in different directions. They successfully measured the weather situations of the relevant areas.

In 1901, when Marconi was sending a telegraph, the transmission antenna was broken by the wind. It suddenly occurred to him that he could replace it by using a kite to lead the line. Eventually the cross-Atlantic wireless telegraph was successfully sent.