How were kites built in the past?

Later in the history of kites in China, people came up with more designs and new ideas, such as the musical kite. There's a record of a palace worker in the 900s AD who fixed bamboo pipes to a kite. When flown, the pipes would make a sound in the wind, like the zheng, a stringed instrument. read more

Kites were regarded as curiosities at first and had little impact on European culture. In the 18th and 19th centuries, kites were used as vehicles and tools for scientific research. Men like Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Wilson used their knowledge of kite flying to learn more about the wind and weather. read more