Year-ender: 10 awe-inspiring stories in China (4)

Li Jiawei, an electrician from Southwest China's Chongqing, spent eight years building a real miniature steam train for his autistic son.

The son, named Hanghang, was diagnosed with autism at 3. After completing primary school, he was forced to drop out because he couldn't catch up in classes and also had difficulty communicating with other children of his age. However, he developed a fascination for miniature trains in animated programs.

The boy's passion for trains inspired Li to build a miniature train. Li spent three months teaching himself how to draw blueprints using software, and standardize and size the required parts for a locomotive.

Due to the complex process and the low demand, factories were unwilling to produce parts for a scaled-down version of the locomotive. Therefore, he learned mechanical transmission and kinetic principles, and as he persisted in building the locomotive, the difficulties only increased, and the end seemed nowhere in sight.

Over eight years, Li tested the machine more than a thousand times. He replaced six boilers, and finally built the first miniature locomotive for his son in 2021.