Everybody knows that kites originate from China, and that it is ancient Chinese who invented kites.
    In China, the invention of kites is often attributed to Mo Di (about 468 BC - 376 BC), a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period. While a philosophical monograph, Mo Zi, or the Teachings of Master Mo Di, nonetheless contains descriptions of numerous mechanical engineering wonders. Legend goes that through three years’ hard work, the philosopher produced a wooden bird, which broke down after flying just for one day.
    Kites are also attributed to Han Xin, a great soldier who helped found the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). In the year 202 BC, two peasant rebel armies fought the last battle for supremacy over China, one under Han Xin and the other, under Xiang Yu. The battle took place at Gaixia, somewhere in what is now northern Anhui Province, east China, and Xiang Yu’s troops were surrounded watertight by troops under Han Xin’s command. Legend goes that to disintegrate the enemy troops who were mostly from the Kingdom of Chu, Han Xin ordered some huge kites flown into the sky, with musicians riding on the kites who kept playing Chu music with a kind of vertical bamboo flute known as xiao. The tactic worked. The enemy troops fled helter-skelter, and their commander, Xiang Yu, committed suicide in the end.
    Forget about whether the stories about Mo Di and Han Xin are true. But, according to some historical records, Han Xin did order a kite flown into the sky to measure the distance from where his troops were stationed to the imperial palace complex of the Qin Dynasty he was about to attack. A less known person to whom kites are attributed is Yang Kan, who lived in the sixth century AD. In the year 549, according to historical records, an armed rebellion broke out in southern China, which was then under the reign of the Liang Dynasty, and the rebel troops besieged the Dynasty’s capital Jiankang, what is now Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, east China. On Yang Kan’s proposal, the emperor ordered a kite flown into the sky, bearing words promising a big award for any person who picked up the kite and sent it to the relief troops. This turned out to be a futile attempt, not because the kite failed to fly, but because it was shot down by rebel troops shortly after it soared into the sky.
    In the year 559, just ten years later, one more story associated with kites happened. Emperor Wen Xuan of the Qi Dynasty, which ruled parts of northern China, ordered some huge kites flown into the sky, each carrying a convict on the death row, and promised to pardon those who managed to fly out and land safely outside the walled capital city. According to historical records, one of the convicts, named Huang Tou, succeeded.