China boy grabs public attention by ‘handcrafting’ turbojet engine in family’s living room

Youngster who describes himself as ‘rocket boy’ brushes off scepticism about the authenticity of his abilities; says he is not afraid to fail

A 14-year-old Chinese boy who reportedly “handcrafted” turbo engines in his home living room has sparked a heated social media discussion about his background.

Teenager Che Jingang, from southern China’s Hainan Island, came under the spotlight after several state media outlets reported him as a self-taught engineer.

Che, who has a social media account run by his mother with 30,000 followers, said he is enthusiastic about “everything that flies” and this passion led him down a path of self-studying calculus, aerodynamics since Primary Three.

This eventually led him into handcrafting turbo engines in his living room.

In the videos he posted, he introduces the process he employs to make and test his engines using jargon and calls himself “rocket boy” in the hashtag.