To promote the Chinese traditional fine culture, renew the vitality of intangible cultural heritage in the new era, and strengthen cultural confidence among young students, Mu Dan Academy at Nankai University recently held the activity “Paper Kites in the Spring Breeze: Intangible Cultural Heritage Enters Campus.” The event invited Mr. Wei Bowen – fifth-generation inheritor of “Kite Wei,” a national-level item on China’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage – to deliver an immersive folk culture workshop for students.
At the beginning of the event, Mr. Wei introduced the history, craft features and representative works of “Kite Wei” through videos, pictures, and live demonstrations. He highlighted the four core processes of traditional kite-making -- framing, pasting, painting, and flying -- as well as how the Wei family has continued to refine and modernize the craft over generations, preserving tradition while integrating contemporary elements and bringing this Chinese handicraft to the global stage.
Mr. Wei then guided the students to design and make their own unique kites. Under his instruction, students painted vivid patterns, experiencing the rhythm of colors on paper and reflecting on craftsmanship and heritage transmission. After finishing their designs, students went outdoors and joyfully flew their handmade kites into the spring sky.
This activity represents another practice under Mu Dan Academy’s initiative of “cultivating the mind with beauty and educating through art.” The college regularly organizes faculty-student dialogues, book salons, spring DIY activities and more, to support students in developing sound personalities, broadening their horizons, and becoming well-rounded builders and successors of socialism with all-round moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor development.
