北京风筝

徐红新 苏州科技大学

北京风筝种类很多，传 为曹雪芹所著的《南鹞北鸢考工志》一书中有40多种扎法，现存的《北平风筝谱》中收集了200余种北京风筝。北京风筝有硬翅、软翅、对燕、拍子、串儿、筒儿、沙燕儿等。沙燕儿是北京、也是中国风筝最有代表性的一类风筝。沙燕儿也称扎燕儿，形象取材于自然界的小燕子，经过夸张、变形、程式化，具有浓厚的民族特色和强烈的装饰感。沙燕儿形态有肥燕、瘦燕、雏燕和比翼燕等。民间艺人赋予风筝丰富的想象和情感，北京民谣：“肥比男，瘦比女，雏燕是孩童，双燕是夫妻。”沙燕儿结构简练，由5 根竹条组成主骨架，飞行性能优于其他类型风筝。由沙燕儿演变成的风筝遍及全国，品种很多。

Beijing Kites

Beijing kites are of various kinds. There are more than 40 kinds of tie-up methods recorded in An Investigation of Kite-making Techniques in South and North China, a book written reputedly by Cao Xueqin, and more than 200 kinds of Beijing kites are collected in Beiping Kites Spectrum, a book still existing today. Beijing kites may be hard-winged, soft-winged, double-swallowed, racketed, chained, tanked, sand swallowed, just name a few. Sand Swallow is a kind of representative kite in Beijing, even in China. It is also known as Zha Swallow, whose image is based on the little swallow in real life and is characterized by strong national features and strong decorative sense after exaggeration, distortion and stylization. Sand Swallow has different forms as fat-shaped, thin-shaped, young swallow, double-swallow and the like. Folk artists give the kite rich imagination and great affection, just as has been sung in Beijing ballad: “Fat swallow symbolizes the male and thin the female, young swallow is like a child and double swallows a couple.”  The flight performance of a Sand Swallow is superior to other classes because of its simple framework formed by 5 bamboo stripes. Therefore, the kite evolved from the sand swallow has been very popular all over the country, with its various kinds.