A man from East China's Anhui Province has recently made the headlines for drifting his "wondrous" journey back home across the Yangtze River with the help of a plank and some empty bottles. Photo: screenshot of Litchi Video on Sina Weibo.

A man from East China's Anhui Province has recently made the headlines for drifting his "wondrous" journey back home across the Yangtze River with the help of a plank and some empty bottles. 

Although the endeavor didn't turn out successful - and he had to be picked up by rescue forces midway - his incredible story has impressed Chinese netizens who dubbed the ordeal as the "Life of Pi in real life." 

A few days earlier, the man from Anhui traveled to Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province to look for a job. 

However, he lost his identity card and wallet in Nanjing and was unable to get a nucleic acid test, Litchi News reported on Tuesday. 

Unlucky as he was, he failed to find any job and could not return home by air or train. 

In despair, he came up with a "brilliant idea" to swim his way home - he picked up a wooden board, filled his backpack with empty plastic bottles, and sailed through the Yangtze River. 

However, it was not long before he ran out of energy in the turbulent currents. So he drifted along with the current, until finally police in Zhenjiang, a city of Jiangsu near Nanjing, came to the rescue. 

Global Times