Che Jingang is not your usual 14-year-old middle school student. After developing a passion for aeronautics at a very early age, he started studying the basics, taught himself calculus, and is now building a functional turbojet engine by hand.

Che was only in kindergarten when he became fascinated with paper planes. He noticed the difference between throwing a paper ball and launching a paper plane by hand, and was curious what made the plane float the way it did. Before long, he turned his house into an experimental laboratory for paper planes, but that was only the beginning.

According to his parents, Che once dedicated three hours each day to reading science books on aeronautics, and by the third grade, he was already teaching himself calculus, aerodynamics, printed circuit board circuitry, as well as working with complex software like SolidWorks, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD).

At one point, he discovered online tutorials and decided to build something practical himself. He focused mostly on video tutorials on Duoyin (China’s version of TikTok), and progressed to the point where he decided to build a miniature functional jet engine. But he didn’t just want to copy someone else’s design and call it a day. He wanted to design the thing himself, using his acquired knowledge.

“Some people publish blueprints online, but if I just copied them directly, I felt it would be meaningless,” Che Jiangping told China Youth Daily. “I wouldn’t learn anything, and it would be a waste of time.” 

To fulfil his dream, the young whiz kid started designing every little component from scratch, making his own 2D engineering drawings in CAD, building 3D models in SolidWorks, calculating airflow, temperature, and pressure using simulation software. He began documenting every process by uploading clips on Douyin, and before long, he started interacting with like-minded people.

Fellow enthusiasts shared advice in the comment section, others cheered him on, and some even offered to 3D-print his components for free. Within six months, he already had a prototype. Unfortunately, the test was a failure, as Che himself identified problems with the fuel, the combustion chamber design, and the compressor alignment. But he didn’t let that setback curb his ambition.

“Nothing can be successfully accomplished on the first try. Even if I didn’t succeed, I learned something, and that gives me the motivation to build it a second time,” the teen said.

Che Jingang is already working on a new and improved version of a functional turbojet engine and is getting ready to test it. Meanwhile, most kids his age are busy playing Fortnite and wasting their time on social media.