Engineers build jet engines in factories. One builds them at home.
Che Jingang, from southern China’s Hainan Island, has built turbojet engines in their living room and his mother posted photos of his work in her social media account followed by 30,000 netizens, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
News outlets also reported on Che not because of his unusual avocation but because he is a self-taught engineer and is only 14 years old.
Che said he has been teaching himself calculus and aerodynamics since Primary Three. Before building turbojet engines, he made robotic arms and model planes.
His story and talent aroused suspicion from some people, while others expressed amazement at his talent and encouraged him.
Meanwhile, another Chinese boy is excelling in another field.
Shao Ziyan, from Wenzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, became obsessed with car racing after playing a simulator game when he was one, his father told SCMP.
Shao’s father made a smaller simulator for his son to practice on and bought him an electric go-kart to experience real driving when he was two. The boy next trained in professional go-kart racing.
By the age of four, he ranked 30th in the simulation car racing game’s world rankings, overtaking his dad who ranked outside 3,000, according to SCMP.
Shao progressed to driving a real rally car and, by age five, acquired a certificate as a professional rally racer.
His dad bought him a second-hand rally car and Shao went on to win a national rally race with it to become the world’s youngest rally race winner at age seven.