(1) Kites

　　According to research, China invented kites before the Western Han Dynasty. Before the Tang Dynasty, kites were called paper kites. People in the Tang Dynasty tied bamboo flutes to kites and made a sound like a zither in the air, from which "kites" came. Kites were introduced to Europe in the 14th century. Many aviation pioneers began to study the flight principle from kites, and new inventions such as multi-body kites and manned kites were born. Kite embodies many aerodynamic elements of aircraft, including lift, traction, angle of attack, relative airflow and other concepts, and is generally considered as the ancestor of modern aircraft.

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　　(2) Bamboo dragonfly

　　In 500 BC, people in China invented the bamboo dragonfly. This simple and magical toy has been handed down to this day. Its shape is T-shaped, and the whole body is made of bamboo. The horizontal piece is like a propeller, with a hole in the middle. Insert a bamboo stick and twist it with both hands, and the bamboo dragonfly will fly to the sky. In the 18th century, bamboo dragonflies spread to Europe, and were called "China Flying Gyro", which inspired the invention of propellers and helicopters. Known as the "father of aviation" in Britain, George Kelly? has been fascinated by bamboo dragonflies all his life. His first aviation research was to imitate and improve the "bamboo dragonflies" and analyze the working principle of propellers.

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　　(3) Kongming Lantern

　　During the Five Dynasties, a woman named Xin Qiniang went out with her husband and made a square lantern out of bamboo and paper. After the chassis was lit with turpentine oil, the lantern could soar and be used as a communication signal, which was called "Seven Niangs Lantern" or "Turpentine Lantern". Because the shape of "Seven Niangs Lantern" resembles Zhuge Liang's hat, it is also called "Kongming Lantern" by later generations. The principle of Kongming Lantern's launching is exactly the same as that of hot air balloon, and it is the originator of modern aerostat.

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　　(4) Firecrackers

　　About the late Jin Dynasty, China people invented black powder, which was one of the four great inventions in ancient China. In the Sui Dynasty, people put gunpowder into bamboo tubes to make firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. Around the Tang Dynasty, China people made firecrackers that could fly in the air on the basis of firecrackers-"Flowers". The "flower-rising" is shaped like a small paper gun, and it is decorated with a reed pole about two or three feet long. When its core is burned, it will rise quickly. "Qihua" is the most primitive gunpowder rocket, which seems simple, but its working principle is the same as that of modern solid rocket.

　　In ancient China, there were four aviation inventions based on material objects-kites, bamboo dragonflies, kongming lanterns and firecrackers. Surprisingly, the scientific elements and inherent theoretical logic contained in these four aviation inventions correspond to four types of modern aircraft-airplanes, helicopters, aerostats and rockets, which are comparable to the four major inventions in ancient China (compass, paper making, gunpowder and movable type printing).

　　However, it is a pity that after the Song Dynasty, China people's active innovative thinking and activities came to an abrupt end, and the above-mentioned exquisite inventions were also fixed at the technical level, not upgraded to the technical level, not to mention the scientific level, so that there were few names and performance records of China people in the history of world aviation development.