Number of words: 1,275<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was an ordinary welder in a boring job. Geng Shuai was about to turn 30 and knew that if he did not find an outlet for his passion to create things, he would be trapped in mediocrity. Then came his Einstein moment, during the mundane chore of cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After chopping meat and vegetables with a cleaver, he was busy cooking when his mobile phone rang. When he hung up, he accidentally put the phone down on the cleaver. And on flicked a mental light bulb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shapes synced perfectly. \u201cI realised, \u2018Mmmm, you could make a phone cover out of that.\u2019\u201d Cleavers are common in Chinese kitchens, and Geng\u2019s family happened to have a lot of old, blunt ones. So he took the leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI liked it, so I went ahead and made it,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it was quite handy. It was accidental design, not intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geng put together a video to promote his product on the Chinese video-sharing and streaming app Kuaishou. Holding the cleaver by its wooden handle, he flipped open the cover to reveal the phone nestled inside, held it up to his ear then slid it into his pocket \u2013 all set to a song about a legendary ancient hero and his green dragon crescent blade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike Geng\u2019s first invention, an automatic pancake press, the cleaver phone case went viral in two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not in the way he had hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where he saw a bold design and an adventurous statement, Chinese netizens saw a hilarious failure. One of them wondered if you needed to buy a new pair of pants every time you tried to pocket the case. Another wondered how you avoided cutting off your ear. Better not try to catch a flight with it, someone pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geng saw the funny side. He also saw an opportunity. Maybe people were not lining up to buy his invention, but they were watching his video \u2013 by the millions. And they seemed to appreciate his cleaver design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So his next design was a cleaver-comb. He blunted the edge of the cleaver, just as he had for the phone case. He live-streamed a video, dragging the metal comb through his hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure enough, money began to trickle in as newfound fans clicked on a button during his live streams to send him virtual \u201cgifts\u201d in appreciation of his inventions. Then the money started to pour in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geng, 30, grew up in a small village outside Beijing. The son of a welder, he started cutting knives and guns from steel plate at age 7 using his father\u2019s tools. He did well at school but found it a little narrow, convinced the wide world offered a better place to learn and create things. So he quit school after 9th grade and followed his father into a welding job \u2013 only to discover that it was narrow and repetitive too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 25, he was married with a child, and his life was beginning to look to him like a black tunnel leading nowhere great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the excitement of inventing his pancake press inspired him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI felt ecstatic because we are in a rural area and people have the stereotype that we\u2019re just farmers, we\u2019re country people and we don\u2019t have the ability to make anything from scratch. People, especially your neighbours, think you are just an ordinary country guy who could never invent anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From improving the elderly’s mobility to having fun: how HK teens are using motion-sensing technology in their inventions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At almost 30, with a wife and two children to support, he quit his day job this year. His mother was appalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe said, \u2018You are not so young. You\u2019re turning 30. You should not do that because there\u2019s no future in it and it\u2019s risky. You should find a stable job in a company and support the family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was right about the risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to do something I have a passion to do. That\u2019s what will drive me to work harder,\u201d he says. He churned out a series of sculptures made entirely of welded-together fasterners called nuts. Sales were disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once he started to gain online followers, he was flooded with messages asking why his products cost so much, in a nation where cheap high-volume production is king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geng learned the basics of welding from his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery single product took a long time to make because it was handmade,\u201d he says. Hardly anyone who asked about his product went on to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m very good at sales tactics,\u201d he said. He preferred dreaming up new creations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his videos grew more and more popular. The cleaver phone cover has been seen 24 million times, the comb video 8 million. Fans begged him never to make anything useful. One sent him a prestigious new-release phone, so that he could stream higher-quality videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat I wanted to do at the very beginning was to sell inventions and bring convenience to people\u2019s lives. But now I realise that people really like the way I present my inventions. And I also realise that this way, I get to do something new all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If sales of one of his products had taken off he would probably have been stuck churning out thousands of them, day after day. But making a living by livestreaming has given him the freedom to hop from one wild idea to the next, without having to worry about whether it might sell \u2013 or might be practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the wilder and more impractical, the more his fans cheer him on with their gifts. He is living in a mad inventor\u2019s fantasy land \u2013 and getting paid to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one video he dramatically flicked open a fan made of four cleavers; that got 5 million views. There was the earthquake-proof noodle bowl, allowing the table to jerk around, while the noodles remain steady enough to eat (20 million views). There was the heavy metal man-bag – an accessory in the shape of a mallet weighing several pounds – in which he stuffs a cellphone, a wallet and a roll of toilet paper (15 million views). There was a motorised wheelbarrow – comprising a motorbike welded onto a wheelbarrow. \u201cThis thing has a really bad temper,\u201d he says (8 million views).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s his clunky shoe that converts into a stool (6 million views). A \u201cbath sword\u201d with a shampoo compartment and scrubber (14 million). And a battery-operated umbrella with a spinning canopy designed to flick the raindrops away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For months, his parents were bemused as to how his impractical inventions were bringing in almost twice what he made as a welder. But in March, his brother, Geng Da, 27, joined the operation; in October, his father, Wen Jun, 55, joined in too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he first created his cleaver phone case, Geng applied for a patent only to be advised that his sales (about 20 so far) did not warrant a patent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut you never know when your product will go viral,\u201d he says. A major online sales platform recently approached Geng with a product placement contract for his videos. And Kuaishou invited him to Beijing for a branding exercise and a string of interviews with Chinese media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that he is bringing in a regular income, his mother accepts that this strange occupation might be a real job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for Geng, he is happier than he has ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought I could go this far. I feel this helped me to realise my dreams. I can try new things and be as creative and inventive as I want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Excerpted from <\/em>https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/yp\/discover\/news\/asia\/article\/3059392\/geng-shuai-china-who-went-viral-his-useless-inventions-how<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"