Dog-fights over Mid-levels

Submitted by David on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 14:39

Which years saw the skies above Robinson Road turned into an aerial battlefield?

Try the 1960s... On Monday, local ace Ah-Sek told me his tales of glory from those days. The days when he ruled the ranks of the fighting kites!

I guessed he'd join up with a group of friends at a pre-arranged time. But in fact the call to arms could come at any time:

"I'd be in my room doing my homework, but at the same time I'd keep an eye on the skies outside. As soon as I saw a kite, up to the roof I'd go."

Of course, buildings along Robinson Road were much shorter then...

"We could see the sea from several windows, and even across to the harbour by Central."

Without any skyscrapers to worry about, the duelling pilots would fight it out from their rooftops.

I asked if the 'fighting' was about who had the most fancy kite? Or who could fly highest? No, winning was a much more physical victory than that:

"We'd smash up a bottle, then grind up the pieces to get little shards of glass. Next you run the kite string through white glue, then through the ground grass, and leave it out to dry. Once dry, you were ready to fight.

You'd fly across your enemy's kite strings, then slide to and fro to cut them through. The winner would mark another victory on their kite, while the loser would see their kite sail away into the distance."

Alas, an aerial arms race put an end to Ah-Sek's reign:

"This bigger boy kept winning, but his kite could only fly on really windy days. Eventually we found out he'd swapped string for fine wire!".

I've not heard of anything like this in the UK. Was it a popular game here in Hongkong?

Comments

Hi there,

Not necessarily over Mid-Levels.  Some of those kids flew their kites within the flight zones of Kai-Tai, which was supposed to be forbidden and still is.

I have not done those dog fights myself, but when I was I kid some of my friends mentioned they have done something like that and yes, they claimed they glue up their string and coated it with ground glass.

These lines became very dangerous.  I believe I have hard of motorcycle accidents caused by such strings being running across roads either by culprits intentionally, or by fallen kites equipped with ground glass coated strings.  Well, back in the 1950-60's, safety helmet was not a must for motor cyclists.  If one riding in 30 miles per hour got struck with such a line one could be seriously injured.

Best Regards,

T

Thanks Paul, I didn't know the name for it before, but a Google search for 'kite dueling' turns up lots of results.

They show it is popular in the Middle East, through to Pakistan and India. They also confirm Thomas's memory that razor-sharp strings and people are a recipe for disaster, mentioning several deaths per season. I wonder if these dueling kites were banned in Hong Kong, or just fell out of fashion?

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Submitted by
breskvar (not verified)
on
Wed, 10/20/2010 - 12:45

My father used to be a keen dueller in his youth, launching his kites from Wan Chai.  He tells me he started by picking up a random run down kite on the street (perhaps cut down in a battle nearby), and started making his own 'glass lines'.

He picked up pieces of broken glass on the streets and living in Wan Chai, ground the glass by putting the pieces into the tram tracks on Hennessy Road.  Thus was his first kite in the 1950s.  The objective, so I was told, was not just to win duels, but to win them close by so that you could pick up and claim the cut down kites on nearby streets.  He would also cannibalise the line to make his own longer and stronger.  So the aerial duels had two dimensions: you want to win dogfights but also build 'squadrons' armed with long and sharp glass lines. 

I've asked him why people didn't do this anymore, and he said it stopped when ordinary kids could afford to buy their own kites.  I have no way to verify this claim since I have never seen a duel myself, but if his claim is true, then I cannot understand why supposedly richer folks will be flying glass lines from the Mid-Levels. 

Hi there,

From what I have been told some kids even built their own kites.  It wasn't that difficult if you just want one that could fly as all you need is a piece of paper cut into a certain shape and size, with the wire frame made from bamboo.  A tradtional Chinese style kits is usually being built like that, wth home made glue made from starch.

Best Regards,

T

Hi folks,

Allow me to share some memories of HK!

Apart from fireworks during Chinese New Year, kite flying/duelling was most enjoyable. Once the kite is launched and control obtained it is marvellous to watch the kite soar upwards and towards the other kites in the distant, of course they were down wind of you. There is considerable control of the kite and one can manoeuvre ones kite towards the opponents kite, dive down and loop up again to engage their line, (we used light nylon fishing line), then the duel begins, tugging and pulling until one kite flutters helplessly towards the earth. Sometimes the opponents kite gets tangled in your line and when you bring in your kite you also bring in a nice big expensive opponents kite together with lots of line as well. This happened often and we used to accumulate a few kites and line this way. One day however when we were retrieving a kite and line from a downed kite we could see the kids (we were all kids then) that owned the kite pointing at us from another building to which we waved back and LOL!!!! As we were ready to go home we were stopped by these kids and their older brothers!!! The relieved us of their kite, their line as well as our kite and our line!! Ahh! Those were the days!!! In fact when my daughter was growing up, I decided to show her how to make and fly a kite. I made one out of newspaper, bamboo sticks, and cooked rice for glue. It is VERY easy the the kite flies REALLY well. Try it guys. We stopped flying kites as the buildings got higher and higher and many of the tall buildings you could not get access to the roof. The whole skyline became too crowded and so we found new games like 10 pin bowling at the Brunswick and billiards somewhere on Nathan Road!! A misspent  childhood I'm afraid!!!

Thanks

Greg Bradley

Thanks for the memories of the kite-fighting. I especially like the idea of tram as glass-grinder!

Greg, were your kite-fighting days in the 50s and 60s too, like the other people who've written in?

No kite fights in Wales where I grew up, but we had a version of your kite-extortion story. This time of year we'd always head out to the hedgerows picking blackberries. One year we met a bunch of older boys who decided to cut out all that time-consuming reaching through the brambles, and instead just patrol the area relieving younger pickers of their pickings!

Regards, David

growing up in hong kong (60/70s) was synonymous with 'crazes' - we were such sheep!

there was a tiny toy shop on prince edward road run by a grump with a wooden leg right next to our grocer's.  i guess that's a bit of a fancy name for the 'shop' , which was really just a staircase entry with zillions of things hanging from the ceiling, retrievable by a pole (which he was a dab hand at doing), fancy smelling erasers and pencils and a stash of comics - old or new - your choice.  one thing he certainly had his finger on the pulse was for the next craze to hit town.  you could buy kites (in season) for as little as 50 cents up to a few dollars for the fancier ones.  not that i ever partook in this activity but remember the boys having a whale of a time doing so.... until the next craze; yo-yos or rubik's cubes, clackers, stickers, hula hoops, marbles, foot jumps - you name it, he stocked it.  things were so simple then :)

Yes David Duelling kites in the early to mid 60's. Also should mention that during the kite flying season (cant remember when but would be summer) the power lines, buildings, neon signs, trees, etc  would be a tangle of broken kites, sometimes there would be an intact kite and there would be groups of kids trying to retrieve it. Quite a site.

And to Venessa about toy shops. Yes these were great but I loved the pet shops that sold tropical fish. They were so cheep. Venessa you know a friend of mine in HK and his father had a great aquarium his name is David  Ling Jr and he now lives in Canada!!! Catch you on FaceBook?

Best wishes

Greg Bradley

Ah yes, I had a favourite shop like that on Hillwood Road. Just an awning over a set of steps that seemed to lead nowhere. Plastic model kits were much sought after, but also fireworks ( Double- Bangers, Tom Thumbs, and sheaves of rockets) Also  funny sort of bubbly little red pellets that crackled and popped when you scraped them under your shoe and of course the lethal 'Cherry Bombs'. There was a great toy shop on Nathan Rd., between Hillwood Rd. and St. Andrew's Church, called the 'Sunny Company'. I endeared myself to the staff there one Christmas by accidentally knocking over their huge Christmas Tree and trapping my parents on the wrong side of the tree for escape . I clearly recall the monster pine on it's side, smashed glass balls and popping lights and some very angry faces peering at me through the greenery as I high- tailed it home to Cox's Path.