Music of whistling kites in danger of fading

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"Cloth and silk are used for the kites and the painting styles are always gongbi, the traditional Chinese realistic painting," Shan says.

Depending on the size of the frame, paintings can depict traditional patterns, immortals, figures and folk tales. In the past, Shan says, every family in the countryside would fly kites, and their music represented the families' dreams, while crowds gathered to watch and listen, with laughter echoing around.

Shan is a Banyao Kite specialist and daughter-in-law of Guo Wenhe, who devised the Guo kite, a leading design school of the Banyao Kite. Guo died in 2004.

Shan's kite shop has few customers these days, she says.

Her sons don't want to learn the craft, and she is worried that after her the knowledge of the art form, passed from generation to generation, will disappear. "There are only two people who know how to make the kites in the entire Guo family," she says.

Though the Banyao Kite is classified as a cultural heritage item, no special measures have been put in place by the government to conserve the art behind it, according to Yang Guoqiang, a local official.

"It will be really sad if no one knows how to make them," he says.

The local government does offer incentives to the Guo family, of about 1,000 yuan ($160) a year. But Shan says that does not even cover a month's rent.

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