Largest kite museum

The largest kite museum is the Weifang World Kite Museum in Weifang City, Shandong, China, with a floor area of 8,100 square metres (87,190 square feet) spread across 12 halls on two storeys. The museum houses some 1,300 exhibits dedicated to the history, craft and culture of kite-making and kite-flying, including more than 1,000 different kites from all around the world. The roof of the museum is covered in turquoise tiles and is said to imitate the shape of a traditional dragon-headed centipede kite, a design long associated with the Weifang area.

The city of Weifang, has a long and illustrious connection with kites, traditionally thought to have been a birthplace of early kites in the 5th century BCE. Philosopher Mozi (c. 470–c. 391 BCE) is credited to have been the first to create what were known as "flying birds" out of wood; these were then refined by one of his protégés, craftsman/engineer Lu Ban (c. 507–444 BCE), who used more lightweight bamboo to create a "flying magpie" that could stay aloft for several days. A bronze statue of Lu Ban is one of several figures included in a commemorative plaza celebrating the history of kites alongside the museum.

Each year, the city hosts the International Weifang Kite Festival, which draws thousands of kite enthusiasts from all over the world.

Although China has been the long-accepted birthplace of kites, it's worth highlighting that there is another school of thought (though yet to be proven) that the earliest kites may have originated from islands in south-east Asia, such as Sulawesi in Indonesia, where leaves from certain rainforest plants such as orchids were used to make kites that could be used by fishermen to extend their range or to fish in potentially treacherous waters.