Have you ever seen a flying panda? What about a bowl of airborne instant ramen? Well, you’ll find both, and much more, at the annual Weifang Kite Festival in China’s Shandong Province, where hobbyists and professionals from around the world gather to show off their incredible kites. The event includes a two-day music festival, a kite-flying competition, and a kite-flying event open to the public.

The Weifang Kite Festival has long symbolized cross-cultural exchange and international connections. This year’s festival theme, “Embrace peace and let dreams fly,” continues this spirit with 257 kite teams from 51 countries.

In fact, Weifang is known as the kite capital of the world. Kites have appeared in the Weifang region since the Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago. The traditional Chinese kite is shaped like a bird, structured with a bamboo frame, wrapped in thin paper, and hand-painted. For a perfect kite, makers need to master 36 steps, which are classified into framing with bamboo, mounting the paper, painting the figure, and finally flying the kite.

Today, Weifang is home to over 600 kite manufacturing workshops, generating an annual revenue of over 2 billion RMB ($274 million USD), according to the Xinhua News Agency. Each year, the city sees a horde of creative kites dominating the skyline, from classic folklore figures to internet memes. For a new generation of kite flyers determined to push the boundaries of tradition, the sky is truly the limit.

Cover images via RedNote.