Page 369 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

PAINTED IN COLOURS OVER THE GLAZE. 21
j

Mandarin with Butterfly and Flower Borders.
No. 350. A dessert plate of ordinary ware. Diameter, 7|
inches ; height, 1 inch. No mark. Painted in bright colours,
two ladies assisting a boy to fly a kite.
Davis, vol. i. p. 318 : " In kite-flying the Chinese cer-
tainly excel all others, both in the various construction of
their kites and the height to which they make them rise.
They have a very thin, as well as tough, sort of paper,
made of refuse silk, which, in combination with the split
bamboo, is excellently adapted to the purpose. The kites
are made to assume every possible shape ; and, at some dis-
tance, it is impossible occasionally to distinguish them from
real birds. By means of round holes, supplied with vibrating
cords, or other substances, they contrive to produce a loud
humming noise, something like that of a top, occasioned by
the rapid passage of the air as it is opposed to the kite. At a
season of the not but
particular year, only boys, grown men,
take a part in this amusement, and the sport sometimes con-
sists in trying to bring each other's kites down by dividing
the strings."
410 " The of on the
Doolittle, p. : holiday kite-flying
highest hills in the city and suburbs is observed regularly on
the ninth day of the ninth month at this place (Fuhchau).
The Chinese that in ancient times, a certain man was
explain
informed, by one who pretended to know the future, that on a
specified day some calamity would befall his house or his
property, so he took all his family on the morning of that day
the time as best be could. On
and went to the hills, spending
returning home at nightfall, he found his domestic animals all
dead. That day was the ninth of the ninth month. They
also say that, in imitation of his example, they go to the hills
on the ninth day of the ninth month, and thus avoid any
domestic calamity which might have befallen them at home,
and to while away the time pleasantly, they take along their
kites and them. This is called ' on and
fly ascending high,'
indicates the flying of kites on the particular day mentioned.
The interest of the sport centres on the day specified. Then,
if the weather is fine, the air is full of kites, of all sizes, and
of a large variety of shapes. Some are in the shape of
p 1