The Chinese Strategy: Beware of the Kites!

Imagine adjusting the kite according to the wind movements, while running about an open field, with your feet digging the mud deeper after each step; well, snap out of your childhood, for the high-flying kites were used for warfare during the early Chinese days! Now that we have possibly scarred your childhood memory, let's move on to the Chinese, and how they used kites to win battles, for everything's fair in love and war, and even kite-flying.

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The availability of silk and bamboo in China were favourable for the invention of the kite. There are several theories as to how the idea of the first kite popped up, but we shall now focus on how the they were used. Kites surprisingly came in handy for the Chinese, as they used it to measure distances, or test the wind. But apart from that, kites were used for the sole purpose of destroying the enemies' advances, as the larger kites were used to lift up men, armed and dangerous, who would then unleash the blitzkrieg. Another method included the fitting of bells or flutes, and as the kite rose higher against the wind, it would howl or sing (in a frightening way), and scare away the enemy! Kites were first used in warfare during the Song dynasty, loaded with incendiary powder, fuse and a stick of incense, and as you might have guessed, proved to be particularly ingenious.

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Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban were thought to have invented the kite, and in doing so, gave the world a pastime. Be sure channel your inner warrior, and destroy your opponents during the next friendly kite-flying match!

Post Written by - Lopamudra