'Peasant Da Vincis'
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The slogan "Peasants - Making a Better City" is painted in red on the side of a temporary residence building for migrant workers near the Bund in Shanghai. Echoing the Expo's theme of "Better City, Better Life," the slogan represents something else entirely: the ingenuity of the peasants of China.
"Better Peasants, Better City" is the theme of an exhibition being held at the newly renovated Rock Bund Art Museum. The exhibition, featuring such peculiar items as a wooden helicopter and a robot "family," showcases the inventions and ideas of peasants from all over China. The exhibition is named "Peasant Da Vincis," evoking the name of the famed Italian inventor and artist.
The organizer of the exhibition, Cai Guoqiang, is one of the most well-known and influential contemporary artists in China. "I heard the story of the peasant inventors quite a few years ago, and it sounded interesting," says Cai.
Cai started to collect the peasants' inventions for his exhibition, which opened May 3. More than 50 items invented by nine peasants are on display.
Du Wenda is a 45-year-old farmer from Anhui Province. His interest in UFOs started 30 years ago after he read a science fiction novel.
"I have believed in the existence of UFOs ever since then," says Du. The book even inspired him to construct a UFO of his own.
However, Du didn't get a chance to build it until 2003, after he had saved up some money from the company he runs. He invited some friends to invest in the project, but no one took him seriously.
He finally persuaded some friends to join him and invested 100,000 yuan ($14,600) in the project. He even transformed his house into a UFO-production factory. By the end of 2003, Du had completed his first UFO.
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Du Wenda and his UFO |
Du hired a professional truck driver as the pilot and arranged for the first flight after the 2004 Spring Festival. Unfortunately, the flight was a disaster: The UFO wouldn't even move, let alone fly.
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