Wenfeng City Plaza hosts a kite art exhibition from March 20 to April 20. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

A kite art exhibition opened at Wenfeng City Plaza in Nantong, Jiangsu province, on March 20, and will run until April 20.

The exhibition features 53 works by Yao Jianqiang, a representative inheritor of the Nantong banyao kite-making technique, which is a part of Jiangsu's intangible cultural heritage. The collection includes two main categories: 33 Nantong banyao kites and 20 traditional paper kites.

The exhibits vary greatly in size, ranging from a giant banyao kite measuring 3.3 meters to a miniature bamboo whistle just 0.4 centimeters in size. The banyao kites come in diverse shapes, including hexagons, featuring a wide array of painted themes such as classic Peking Opera masks.

As a representative of the Southern School of Chinese kites, Nantong banyao kites are renowned for their unique board-style frames and rows of whistles. When flown, they produce a symphony of sounds, earning them the nickname "symphony in the sky".

The paper kites, on the other hand, embody the poetic aesthetics of traditional kites, using bamboo for the frame and paper for the wings, combining painting and folklore with designs of flowers, birds, mythical creatures, and human stories, creating a moving folk art scroll in the sky.

During the exhibition, the organizers will invite elementary school students to visit and experience the craft of making banyao kites, allowing young people to appreciate the charm of intangible cultural heritage and breathe new life into traditional art.