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Nobody knows when or where kite flying began, but there are some stories about the history of kites.
Early kites may have been simple flat shapes such as leaves. Later, kite designs improved as people
discovered how to put lightweight coverings over frames. Silk and paper are lightweight materials that
were invented in China. China is the earliest known center of kite making. Chinese kites date back (追溯)
at least 2,000 years.
The first Chinese kites may have been used by armies, perhaps as signals. As time passed, kites took
on other uses. They were flown during special ceremonies and for sport. Then there were kite-flying
holidays, such as the one held on the ninth day of the ninth month. According to legend (传说), that was
the day a family went kite-flying on a hilltop. Returning to their house, they saw that it had collapsed (倒塌). Kite-flying had saved their lives!
After a while, travelers and traders spread kite-flying from China to Japan. Before long, Japanese kite-
flying took on a new purpose. Kites flew to celebrate happy things and good luck. Soon, kite-flying
reached many other Asian countries. In each land, kites were designed for ceremonies and sport.
Later, knowledge of kites traveled west, to northern Africa, to Europe, and finally to America. There
may have been early kite inventors in these lands, but their creations did not spread as widely as the kites
of Asia.
1. What shapes did early kites look like?
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2. What lightweight materials for kites were invented in China?
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3. Which country is the earliest known center of kite making, China or Japan?
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4. What were kites used for in China?
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5. What were kites used for in Japan?
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