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The Chinese friends flying the wau in Kajang

Tan Chin Seong and his friends enjoy making and playing with the traditional kite and hope that more will join them in keeping the game alive.

Ahmad Sadiq Mohamad Sani
2 minute read
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Sum Chock Ying fashions the frame of a wau at the home of his friend, Tan Chin Seong, in Kajang. He and Tan are part of a group of friends brought together by their mutual interest in flying the traditional Malay kite.
Sum Chock Ying fashions the frame of a wau at the home of his friend, Tan Chin Seong, in Kajang. He and Tan are part of a group of friends brought together by their mutual interest in flying the traditional Malay kite.
He uses thread to tie the smaller bamboo sticks together, working carefully to make sure that the kite will be balanced.
He also bends the bamboo to make sure that the frame will be strong enough to take the wind once the kite is in the air.
Sum uses bamboo to build the kite as it is light, making sure that the shape of the wau will be perfectly formed.
Tan (left) and Sum show some of the biggest waus in their collection.
Tan (left) and his friends wait for others to join them at the Sungai Chua Recreational Park in Kajang, where they usually go to fly their kites.
Sum holds on to the string of his dragonfly wau as a strong wind lifts it into the air. It took him several days to complete this kite.
Sum, Tan and their friends head to the park nearly every day to enjoy their favourite pastime. The kites they make include the traditional wau bulan, wau burung and wau kapal as well as some of their own inventions including the dragonfly wau and even a Batman wau.
It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s a wau!
Two kites swerve dangerously close to each other, buffeted about by the strong wind. The challenge is to keep the kites apart, to prevent them from getting tangled together.
This kite, known as the wau merak, is made out of ordinary plastic bags from a local supermarket chain.
At 11, Wei Qi is the youngest member of the group. He is still learning how to properly control his kite but loving every minute of it.
The Batman wau, one of the group’s own designs, soars through the sky, its black and white colours in stark contrast with the blue behind.
Other kites are laid out on the grass: the wau bulan, wau kapal and wau merak, among others.
Tan (in red) and Sum work together to fly the wau bulan.
The group of friends, known as the Tionghua community, hold up their kites at the end of a happy evening.

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