Photo: A screenshot from the Douyin account of the 11-year-old boy who builds his home-made rockets.

An 11-year-old boy from East China's Zhejiang Province who built his own rockets at home sparked discussion on China's X-like platform Sina Weibo, with many netizens praising the boy for his exceptional skills.

According to media reports on Monday, the boy's father explained that he started to build rockets at the age of 8, and successfully launched the first one at the age of 9. He is currently upgrading the second rocket.

Throughout the day, aside from eating, sleeping, swimming, and studying, he dedicates the remaining fragmented time to working on rockets, the boy's father told media. According to the report, he has written over 600 lines of code for the rocket he is currently developing.

The boy, Yan Hongsen, was also previously featured in media reports in 2022 for identifying an error in a video from a museum in Lhasa, Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. The museum then officially acknowledged the mistake, stating that "it was indeed wrong."

According to media reports, at the age of 4, Yan was taken by his father to witness the launch of a carrier rocket, and the experience completely sparked his passion for aerospace and rocket. He has since learned programming languages, physical chemistry, aerospace theory, and electronic circuits through online courses.

Many netizens on Weibo have expressed admiration for his abilities and have sent their best wishes to him.

Global Times