Weifang, where my son lives has one major claim to fame: the International Kite Festival. They love their kites.
You can buy your own set of wings:
I had a serendipitous backwater experience in Weifang last spring…I got to fly a kite with an older Chinese man who did so as a hobby. Even though we could not “understand” each other we somehow understood each other.
Meet Mr. Xu Xue Lian and his butterfly kite:
With your feet on the ground you’re a butterfly in flight, with your fist holding tight to the string of your kite.
Send it soaring up through the atmosphere:
(it is a Chinese city so the air isn’t clear!)
Oh, let’s go…fly a kite!
I couldn’t believe it when he handed me the controls ! I think he wanted to share with me the exhilarating feeling of controlling the kite so high up in the air. I have never experienced anything like it. And he had a really good time playing with the camera (one more advantage to having an inexpensive easy to use camera!)
I learned his name because a young woman who spoke a little English and worked in a nearby coffee shop was out walking in the park during her lunch hour and stopped to chat.
XingfuMama 
I never thought of bringing my camera into a kite shop. I just might have to do that this summer. Great photos. Thanks for playing.
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Congratulations! I have selected your post to be featured on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/02/17/cees-fun-foto-challenge-my-favorite-things-chorus/
I hope you have a fabulous week!
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Thank you very much!
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All these posts about kites make me want to pick one up again this summer, haven’t in years. These are nice pics. I like the one especially with the man and the kites in the air plus the building off to the right. The curves, colors and angles on it made me think it could be a kite too!
That’s pretty cool he let you fly it, it definitely was high up there!
Congrats on being featured. 😀
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The buildings were designed with kites in mind. The big open area we were in was built for flying kites and I believe the tall towers were built to create an updraft. Several men, they were all men, came out in the afternoon and flew kites.
I am glad you like the pictures.
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Wow! That sounds like quite a special place. Honestly I wouldn’t have imagined people would put so much into kite flying but I can see it now. 😉
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And interesting that they were all men.
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I thought that was interesting also. If you are interested the Weifang International Kite Festival has a facebook page with lots of pictures of amazing kites.
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Thanks for the information. 🙂
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Thank you. And thank you again for these creative challenges. I am learning a lot about different ways to approach composition, both from the challenge itself and from the really cool entries. It is so much fun to see what other people are doing with the topics.
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