On the occasion of the 100 anniversary of the May 4th Movement, the opening ceremony of the 7th Beijing International Kite Festival (BIKF), co-organized by BPAFFC, was held at Beijing Garden Expo Park. Liu Yuhong, vice president of the BPAFFC, attended the event, awarded prizes for the BIKF Logo Design Competition and dotted eyes for the dragon kite (adding the finishing touch).
The theme of BIKF this year is “Let Fly Your Dreams High and Pass Our Friendship On” . The BPAFFC invited about 100 international professional kite flyers to the tournament. At the opening ceremony, more than 200 international friends, including experts and exchange students from nearly 60 Belt and Road countries, joined in the kite-making and flying activities.
During the opening ceremony, participants were either running with kites on a brand new artificial lawn or absorbed in making their own kites. Every smiling face showed their interest in this experience of traditional Chinese culture.
On the afternoon of May 4, the BPAFFC organized a visit to the exhibition of “Memories of the 1980s Generation” held at Chinese Rose Garden, the exhibition of “Poverty Alleviation through Remote Mountains Bazaars” held at EVE Castle by the EVE Group, and took part in hands-on experience of embroidery etc. In the evening a reception was hosted for the tournament participants.
As the warming up part of BIKF, in April, the BPAFFC, in partnership with the Beijing Kite Association, brought kite making classes to six universities—Capital Normal University, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing Chinese Language and Culture College, North China University of Technology, and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. In these universities, the kite masters taught the foreign teachers and students how to make and fly kites. In such classes, international friends learned the cultural significance of the kite and how to fly it, and got personal experience of the hospitality of the Beijing people.
In yet another effort to reach to international friends, the BPAFFC staged the My Kite Pattern Design Competition for universities in Beijing and awarded prizes for outstanding work.
Kites originated from China and are growing in popularity worldwide. With a history of more than 2000 years, kites are intangible cultural heritages and kite-flying is an excellent traditional sporting activity. The BIKF has done a wonderful job of promoting Beijing and played an important role in forging cultural and sporting exchanges between Beijing and countries around the world. The Kite Festival has been a great platform for bringing the hearts of people closer together. The teachers from participating universities said that this kind of experience has helped international students better integrate into Beijing life and will become an invaluable memory of their life in the city.
