The Mystery of the Song Dynasty Painting by Adeline Yen Mah

of that, not a hint of rain, so you won’t be troubled by lightning.’
    ‘What’s this kite made of ?’
    ‘Bamboo frame, paper sail and silk flying line. Silk kites are much more expensive. We carry both kinds. Our special kites look like insects, butterflies, dragons, fish and other animals. Our musical kites have flutes, gourds or bows attached to them, so the wind “plays” musical tunes as the kites fly.’
    ‘What about this one?’ Gege asks, pointing to a small diamond-shaped kite attached to a line coated with shards of metal.
    ‘That’s a fighter kite, made for boys. Buy two of them. Then you and your friend can have a friendly contest trying to cut one another’s lines. But be careful that you don’t injure your hands while handling the lines.’
    A dizzying variety of competitions are being held at different areas of the field. There’s a group of small children tripping along, trailing small paper kites. Someone in the distance is counting out numbers in clear, measured tones: forty-two, forty-three, forty-four… The majority of the kites flutter and crash before the announcer reaches one hundred. One little girl with two pigtails pointing upwards bursts into tears as her kite blows away in the wind.
    Further along is a group of teenagers about our age. One of them has managed to raise his kite to a height over five hundred zhang .
    I see an elderly man handling a butterfly kite so skilfully that it looks alive. He steers it with two lines of equal length strapped to his wrists. His kite can dance, fly loop-the-loop, turn somersaults in the air, or dive down before swooping back gracefully towards the sky.
    Next to him is a team of eight men assembling a giant red-and-brown dragon-shaped kite with a long tail. It’s an elaborate affair with many bamboo hinges and numerous strings joined together into a single line attached to a handle and wheel. The team leader studies the wind direction and tells his men where to stand. At just the right moment, he barks out an order. Everyone dashes forward with the kite raised above their heads. As the dragon inflates with wind, the leader signals its release. The kite rises with grace, floating majestically into the sky, while the leader hastily pays out extra lengths of string from his wheel. It doesn’t take long for the dragon to rise to a great height, swaying and swerving as if it’s alive.
    To our left, men and boys are shouting, cheering and chasing one another in an area away from the kite-flyers. It’s a large, flat, rectangular field marked off with a red rope.
    ‘ Cu ju (football)!’ Gege exclaims, in great excitement, and races ahead. When Ah Zhao and I finally catch up, he’s already among the players, chasing after a large, brown leather ball.
    Two young men approach us with friendly smiles as we watch the ball being kicked from player to player.
    ‘Ever played cu ju before?’
    ‘No,’ Ah Zhao says. ‘How do you play?’
    ‘Easy. You can touch the ball with any part of your body except your hands. See those two posts in the middle of the field with netting between them? That’s the goal. We divide the players into two teams by giving you red or black headbands with numbers on them. Red team scores one point if a Red player kicks the ball into the goal facing the Red side of the field. Same goes for Black. Everyone aims to score as many points as possible while preventing the other side from scoring.’
    ‘How much does it cost to play?’
    ‘We charge a small fee. But why don’t you start playing first, so we can observe you? If you’re talented, we might even ask you to join our organization and pay you for playing!’
    ‘That will be the day!’ Ah Zhao says, laughing and turning to me. ‘Feel like trying?’
    I’m sorely tempted, but I can’t run fast so I shake my head.
    ‘Are girls allowed to play?’ Ah Zhao asks.
    ‘Of course they are! During the Tang Dynasty, there was a seventeen-year-old girl who was so talented she