Green Goblin Flying Board: How a Self-Taught Chinese Inventor Crossed the Yangtze
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A scene that looks as though it belongs in a superhero film recently became real in China. Song Xingyu, a 26-year-old self-taught inventor from Badong in Hubei province, has drawn widespread attention with his Green Goblin flying board, an electric board of his own design that he rode over the Yangtze River, Asia’s longest river.
Known online as Shenqi Ayu, Song took his inspiration from the glider the Green Goblin uses in Spider-Man. During China’s National Day holiday in early October, he flew over the river and the county town of Badong and through a mountain canyon, and the video reportedly received nearly four million likes on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
The footage reflects years of trial and error. Song left school at 14 and began working at his father’s timber mill, where he developed his interest in flight by experimenting with models and studying mechanical systems on his own. In 2022, he turned an abandoned family workshop into a small laboratory.
What went wrong with his first design?
It used five small turbojet engines, which overheated and caught fire during testing, damaging the fuel lines and wiring. Instead of giving up, Song analysed the test results with an AI agent, which pointed to a problem with the engine arrangement and suggested switching to electric propulsion.
The redesigned board uses ten brushless electric units, each producing more than 30 kilograms of thrust. Song also built an AI posture coach from two mobile phones that gives him spoken balance instructions through Bluetooth earphones. His first electric test flight still ended in a fall that left him with sprains and scraped knees, and he practised for more than ten days before the river crossing. Liu Bo, chairman of the local development group that helped arrange the site, said Song was quiet and careful before flying and had reported the flight to the relevant authorities.
Money has been a struggle too. Earlier projects, including a homemade aircraft and a boat, failed and left him with debts. Support from camera maker Insta360’s creator fund helped him repay much of what he owed, although a company representative said it was creator support and not an investment in a flying board business.
Song says he is still experimenting and hopes to fly higher, but he has also asked viewers not to copy his dangerous stunts. For someone who began with limited resources and no formal engineering education, the flying board is more than an internet sensation. It is the result of curiosity, persistence and a willingness to learn from failure.
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