Hai Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Bird (niǎo) Yuan Kangxi strokes: 14 Page 1482, Entry 20 Pronounced yuan. Shuowen Jiezi (Explanation of Simple and Compound Characters): A bird of prey. Yupian (Jade Chapters): A type of owl. Book of Odes (Shijing), Greater Odes: The kite flies up to heaven. Erya (Approaching Elegance), Explaining Birds: The kite is a type of bird; its flight is soaring. Commentary: The kite is an owl. It is a type of owl; its flight involves spreading its wings and soaring. Book of Rites (Liji), Songs of Ritual: If there is dust ahead, then carry a crying kite. Commentary: The kite is an owl. When the kite cries, wind is coming; a kite is painted on the head of a banner and carried so that those who see it all know to be prepared. Also, wind kite. Old Book of Tang (Jiu Tangshu), Biography of Tian Yue: Zhang Pi, a general in Linming, used paper to make a wind kite, rising over a hundred feet high, to send a letter to Ma Sui’s camp. Continued Treatise on Miscellaneous Records (Xu Bowuzhi): Today’s paper kite is pulled up by a string, allowing children to open their mouths and watch, which releases internal heat. Also, wooden kite. Han Feizi, Outer Miscellaneous Sayings: Mozi made a wooden kite, which took three years to complete. Also, a personal name. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), Biography of the Marquis of Rang: Fled from the Wei general Bao Yuan. Also, in Yunhui (Collection of Rhymes), sometimes written as a variant form. Book of Han (Hanshu), Biography of Mei Fu: If the magpie suffers harm, the benevolent bird increases its speed. Shuowen Jiezi: Originally written as a different form, composed of the radical for bird and a phonetic component. Xu’s Commentary: The component is not phonetic; one version uses a different character, suspecting it is a simplified form of a character related to owl. The current common form, written as yuan, is incorrect. Textual Research: In Han Feizi, Right Sutra, it is stated that Mozi made a wooden kite, which took three years to complete and fly. I have carefully corrected the citation to Outer Miscellaneous Sayings as per the original text, and changed three years to complete and fly to three years to complete.