Cheng Yanhua took 43 days to complete his voyage down the Yangtze river from Jinzhou city to Shanghai. He told  the Shanghai Evening Post he wanted to promote the Olympic spirit.

“I put a basin in the tire for my feet, while sitting on a board on top of the tire. And I had two small bamboo paddles. That was all. All day long I drifted on the current and with the wind. The two paddles were to control direction and speed.”

But at his last stop, less than an hour’s journey to his final destination, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Cheng was spotted by Shanghai water patrol, who forced him to land, fearing he would disturb normal water traffic. However, the patrol sent him to the tower on a coastguard cutter to complete his journey.