Song Xingyu, who posts online as Shenqi Ayu, flew over the river and the county town of Badong in Hubei's Enshi prefecture during China's National Day holiday in early October, and through a canyon in the county's Barenhe scenic area, Jimu News reported.

His video drew nearly 4 million likes on Douyin, China's version of TikTok, and caught the attention of state broadcaster CCTV and other major media.

Dai Xiaoying, a staff member at the scenic area, said Song's team arrived on Oct. 6 and that the canyon flight lasted just over two minutes, covering more than 300 meters from open ground beside the visitor center to a platform in the gorge.

Liu Bo, chairman of Badong Hongfa Industrial Development Group, who helped Song arrange the site, said he was quiet and careful before flying and had reported the flight to the relevant authorities.

Some viewers questioned whether the footage was AI-generated. Song replied in the comments on his video account on Oct. 16 that no AI was used in any of the flight footage and that the board and the video were made entirely by hand, Jiemian News reported.

Viewers flooded the video with comments such as "Chinese people can fly," "the scene from my dreams has come true" and "this is the coolest invention I've seen this year, bar none," the Yangtze Evening Post reported. The newspaper said Song taught himself mechanics, flight control and AI, and that the board can hover and fly in a straight line.

His first version carried five small turbojet engines. During its first full test, the engines caught fire and burned out the fuel lines and wiring, Jimu News reported.

Song fed the test data to an AI agent, which found the engines were mounted too close together, so hot exhaust bounced off the ground into the air intakes. It suggested he switch to electric power.

The electric version, built over two months, uses 10 brushless motor units that each produce more than 30 kilograms of thrust, together more than the weight of four adults. He put the throttle on a ring worn on his finger.

His first flight on it ended in a stall that left him with sprains and scraped knees. He then rigged two phones into an AI flight-monitoring system that gives him spoken prompts through Bluetooth earphones, such as "center of gravity to the left" and "bend your knees to the right."

After more than 10 days of training, he crossed the Yangtze, which at about 6,300 kilometers is Asia's longest river.

Song Xingyu flies his homemade electric board over the Yangtze River in Badong, Hubei Province, China. Photo from YouTube/Shenqi Ayu

Song, who has no formal engineering training, was born in a village in Badong. At 14, he left school to work at his father's timber mill, where he spent his days covered in sawdust. An old tablet from a friend showed him foreign flight-test programs, and he became hooked on flying.

From 18 to 22, he supplied timber to construction sites and failed in business twice. In June 2022, he borrowed money and spent five months turning an abandoned shed of his father's into a science lab.

Tan Fengzhen, who works at the Badong county government's office administration center, told Jimu News she had visited the family's two-story mud-brick house, whose bare ground floor has uneven dirt underfoot and a blackened earthen stove in one corner.

The lab sits deep inside his father's old woodworking shed next door, its desks covered with electronic meters, microscopes and test tubes. "Inside and outside the lab, it feels like two completely different worlds," Tan said.

The family is not well off but has firmly backed him, she said. His mother often travels with him to cook and help out, though her biggest worry is his safety.

His father, Song Chaofu, 59, told the outlet on Oct. 18 that he supports his son's dream but, like his wife, worries most about his safety.

Song's earlier projects include a remote-controlled "space shuttle" he sent toward 40,000 meters on helium balloons in May 2024. That November, he jumped from a helicopter at 5,000 meters wearing a homemade jet-powered wing, and his reserve parachute opened only 600 meters above the ground after the main one failed.

In a December 2025 post, Song said a jet-powered crewed aircraft he built had crashed on a test flight and a 20-ton boat he built had sunk after he was cheated. Borrowing to refund everyone involved left him more than 2.4 million yuan (US$360,000) in debt, most of which he cleared with an organization's support.

Shares of Shanghai-listed camera maker Insta360 closed 8.97% higher on Oct. 20 amid market attention to its support for Song, Shanghai Securities News reported.

A company representative told the newspaper that Insta360 gave him 1.8 million yuan through its Think Bold challenge fund in December 2025 to clear his debts. The money was creator support, not an equity investment, and does not mean the company is entering the flying board business, the representative said.

Song told Jimu News on Oct. 18 that he is still experimenting and filming and hopes to fly higher.