History of Kites

Unless new information comes to light, we have no real way of determining when they were invented, who invented them, or even which country they were first used in. Kites are normally made from light and quite fragile materials, and we have very few actual examples of kites that are more than two hundred years old. Unlike other artifacts such as pots and stone or metal tools, almost everything used to make a kite could rot, or be burnt.

Archaeologists find out much of what they know about a culture from sources such as rubbish tips. Kites would not last long in this sort of environment. As we don't have the actual kites, we have to rely on traditions, legends, illustrations and documents to chart the historical development of kites.

It is currently thought that kites may have been independently invented in both China and Malaysia, and that this new invention then spread through the rest of Asia from these two countries. There certainly is documentary evidence to suggest that kites were being flown in China as long ago as 200 BC. when a general in the Han dynasty is recorded as having used a kite as an instrument of war, by using it as a method of determining the correct distance to dig a tunnel to enter a palace and end a siege.

Other Chinese legends relate how kites were used to lift fireworks in order to terrify an opposing army, and how they were used to lift observers before a battle. Other uses for kites in Asia included a novel way of fishing (also practised in New Zealand), scaring birds from crops, as a way of lifting construction materials to the tops of buildings, and as a toy.