The ninth Suzhou International Kite Festival and the 2014 Shajiabang Folk Tourism Festival kicked off at Shajiangbang in Changshu, Jiangsu province, on April 6, 2014.

“It is the Qingming Festival holiday so my family came to Shajiabang. We didn’t expect to celebrate the festival. My daughter is happy to see so many kites flying in the sky,” said a man surnamed Xu from Shanghai.

At one side of the square in the scenic area, several kite makers taught children kite-making skills. Many children tried to make kites themselves.

“Making a kite is as interesting as flying one, especially when I fly a kite I made myself,” said Yi Jia from the local primary school.

On the grassland, there were over 1,000 windmills in different colors.

Themed “Let the Heart Fly for Dreams,” the festival focused on family tourism products.

The Shajiabang Folk Tourism Festival will last for four months. Based on the Suzhou International Kite Festival, Shajiabang Spring Tour Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, the folk tourism festival aims to attraction tourist attention on folk customs by organizing activities such as watching birds in a wetland, a spring tour to reed marshes, flying kites, planting trees and carnivals.