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This article was first published 10 years ago

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Last updated on: May 6, 2013 21:02 IST

Image: An ethnic Uighur man Abulajon drives his self-made motorcycle during a test in Manas county, Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.
Photographs: Reuters.

Cars, planes made out of recycled materials, helicopters with wooden blades and rickshaws pulled by a robot are some of the amazing inventions from China.

Abulajon, a 30-year-old Uighur worker from a sewage treatment plant, spent a year making his 0.3 tonnes motorcycle measuring 4.3 metres (14 feet) in length and 2.4 metres (7.8 feet) in height, although it makes it impossible for him to drive it on the street.

It cost him about 8000 yuan ($1300) to buy all the parts from salvage stations and the converted engine can power the motorcycle with a speed of 40 km per hour (24.8 miles per hour).

From submarines to giant bicycles, here's a look at some unique inventions from China...

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Tags: China , Abulajon

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Villagers help to push Zhang Xuelin's self-made aircraft before its test flight in Jinan, Shandong province.
Photographs: Reuters.

Zhang Xuelin, a farmer who dropped out of primary school in his early years, spent around 2,000 yuan ($321) to build a plane around a motorcycle, using wood and plastic boards.

The plane, which took 11 months to build, failed in its test flight. 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Zhang Wuyi sits in his double-seater submarine during a test operation at an artificial pool near a shipyard in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Photographs: Reuters.

Zhang Wuyi, a 37-year-old local farmer, who is interested in scientific inventions, has made six miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855) last October.

The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres, and can travel for 10 hours. 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Tao Xiangli gets out of his homemade submarine after operating it in a lake on the outskirts of Beijing.
Photographs: Christina Hu/Reuters.

Amateur inventor Tao, 34, made a fully functional submarine, which has a periscope, depth control tanks, electric motors, manometer, and two propellers, from old oil barrels and tools which he bought at a second-hand market.

He took 2 years to invent and test the submarine which costs 30,000 yuan ($4,385).

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Tags: Tao

Cars, planes made from scrap!


Photographs: Reinhard Krause/Reuters.

Farmer Wu Yulu drives his rickshaw pulled by a his self-made walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing.

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: A woman rides an unicycle at a park in Shanghai.
Photographs: Reuters.

The unicycle was designed by Chinese inventor Li Yongli who called it the number one vehicle in the world.

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Tags: Li Yongli

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: A Chinese inventor, Yang Zongfu celebrates on his six-ton (5,443 kg) ball container named Noah's Ark of China after he succeeds in a series of tests of the vessel in Yiwu, Zhejiang province.

According to local media, Yang spent two years and 1.5 million RMB ($235,585) to build this four-metre diameter vessel, which has been tested capable of housing a three-person family and sufficient food for them to live in 10 months.

The vessel was designed to protect people inside from external heat, water and external impact. 

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Tags: Yang , RMB

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Workers move a tyre near spherical pods named "Noah's Ark", designed by Chinese inventor Liu Qiyuan in Xianghe, Hebei province.
Photographs: Petar Kujundzic/Reuters.

Liu Qiyuan, who has spent 1.8 million yuan ($288,000) on building six "Noah's Ark"s in 8 months with the help of his former furniture factory's workers, is working on his seventh pod.

The 17 cubic-metre volume vessels were built to serve as lifeboats in the event of earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Zhao Xiuguo drives a homemade model of Formula One car in Tangshan, Hebei Province, some 180km (113 miles) east of Beijing.
Photographs: Claro Cortes IV/Reuters.

Zhao Xiuguo and his brother Zhao Xiushun built the car from scrap metal and said that they wanted to design and build the first Formula One racecar in China. 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Local farmer Shu Mansheng hovers above the ground in his self-designed and homemade flying device during a test flight in front of his house in Dashu village on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

The round steel flying device, which cost more than 20,000 yuan ($3,135), is the fifth model made by Shu, a junior middle school graduate.

It measures around 5.5 meters (18 feet) in diameter, and is powered by eight motorcycle engines. Shu managed to hover for 10 seconds at about 1 metre (3.3 feet) above ground during a recent test flight.

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Tags: Shu

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Ding Shilu, an automobile mechanic, carries out a test-flight for his self-made aircraft at a frozen reservoir in Shenyang, Liaoning province.
Photographs: Reuters.

The aircraft which weights about 130 kg (287 lbs) and made of recycled materials including three motorbike engines and plastic cloth, cost about 2600 yuan ($395). 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Wu Zhongyuan, 22, a local farmer, turns the wooden rotor blades of his self-made helicopter in preparation for its maiden flight, in Jiuxian county, Henan province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

The local government later halted Wu's flight out of safety concerns. The aircraft, powered by a 150cc engine, took Wu two months to build and cost more than 10,000 yuan ($1,460), according to the China Daily

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Tags: China Daily , Wu

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Farmer Shu Mansheng prepares to take off with his homemade ultralight aircraft in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

The 4.5-meter-long (15ft) ultralight, powered by two motor engines, took Shu eight months to build and cost him 5,000 yuan ($733). 

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Tags: Shu

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Chinese farmer Yang Youde pushes his homemade cannon near his farmland on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

Yang Youde's cannon, which is made out of a wheelbarrow, pipes and firing rockets, is used to defend his fields against property developers who wants his land. 

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: A self-styled Chinese inventor tests his homemade helicoptor next to his apartment in Beijing.
Photographs: Reuters.

Yu Jun follows in the footsteps of his younger brother who lost his life in a national park in central China at the end of a 20 year search for the legendary "Bigfoot", and intends to continue the quest from the sky.

Without any formal education in aerospace science, Yu Jun spent five years constructing the helicopter from spare parts belonging to a dilapidated "Lada" automobile. 

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Tags: Yu Jun , China , Lada

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Zhang Yali, 49, tests a giant bicycle designed and made by him and his friends outside a rented warehouse in Jilin, Jilin province, China.
Photographs: Reinhard Krause/Reuters.

The 3.2-metre-high and 5.5-metre-long three-seated giant bicycle, weighing over one tonne, cost Zhang more over 20,000 yuan ($3,156).

Zhang spent two months making this bike as a gift for his son, a 25-year-old part-time cartoonist currently living in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Tao Xiangli stands beside his homemade submarine in a courtyard in Beijing.
Photographs: Reinhard Krause/Reuters.

The amateur inventor says his submarine is made from old oil barrels but fully functional with a periscope, depth control tanks, electric motors and two propellers.

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Tags:

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Chinese shipbuilders stand on a submarine designed by a farmer Li Yuming (not pictured) on the Yangtse River in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province.
Photographs: Reuters.

The submarine, 9.8 meters long, two meters wide, and four meters high, was built by some ten shipbuilders in seven months.

Maritime Administration of the Yangtse River banned the submarine's trial voyage because it did not undertake any navigational procedure. 

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Tags:

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Lei Zhiqian rides a modified bicycle across the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.
Photographs: Reuters.

The bicycle, equipped with eight empty water containers at the bottom, was modified by Lei's instructor Li Weiguo, who hopes to put his invention into the market. 

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Tags: Li Weiguo , Lei

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Zhang Wuyi sits in his double-seater submarine before taking it underwater during a test operation at an artificial pool near a shipyard in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Photographs: Reuters.

Zhang, a 37-year-old local farmer, who is interested in scientific inventions, has made six miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855) last October.

The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres, and can travel for 10 hours. 

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Tags: Zhang , Dalian

Cars, planes made from scrap!


Photographs: Reuters.

Han Yuzi, 63, inventor, holds up one of his creations, a hair comb that doubles as a small hand-held musical instrument, in Guangzhou, the capital of China's Guangdong province.

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Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Li Jingchun (top L), a 58-year-old farmer, works with his family members on his self-made aircraft on top of his house in Xiahe village located in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China.
Photographs: Sheng Li/Reuters.

The 5 m long, 1.5 m wide plane, mostly made of recycled iron plates, cost the aircraft enthusiast and his family two years and more than 40,000 yuan ($6,349), according to local media. 

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Tags:

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Gao Hanjie installs the rotor blades on his homemade helicopter in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China.
Photographs: Sheng Li/Reuters.

The graphic designer and helicopter enthusiast, with help from his friends, has spent more than a month building the 6-meter-long and 350kg helicopter.

Gao claims he will eventually fly the contraption as a personal project according to local media. 

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Tags: Gao

Cars, planes made from scrap!

Image: Zhang Wuyi looks up as he squats under a suction pipe of his new submarine that captures sea cucumbers at his workshop in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Photographs: Reuters.

Zhang, a 38-year-old local farmer who is interested in scientific inventions, has independently made eight miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855) in 2011.

The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres (66-98 feet), and can travel for 10 hours. 

Tags: Zhang , Dalian