Sun Yuemei, 39, opened her own kite factory 10 years ago after being a worker at another factory for two years.

Her factory hires 50 workers, all local farmers, in its busy season, which lasts from November through May, and about 30 workers the rest of the year. It produces 10,000 kites daily during the busy season, Sun says.

"The busy season of kite manufacturing happens to be the off-season on the farm," she says.

Sun says the factory earned revenue of 2 million yuan for the 12 months ending May 2015, increasing from 1.5 million yuan a year earlier.

"People are increasingly interested in outdoor sports", she said "Flying kites combines Chinese traditional handicraft and outdoor sport trends popular in the West."

She adds that the designs of her kites are mostly traditional themes, such as goldfish and swallows, to avoid copyright disputes.

The factory also makes customized kites and blank kites so customers can add their own designs.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn