A staff member trains red-crowned cranes to fly at the crane breeding and wildness training centre of the Zhalong state-level nature reserve in Qiqihar, north-east China’s Heilongjiang province on August 10, 2018. A total of 58 them were hatched in the centre by July 2018. Staff members will train them to fly, hunt and survive, and eventually release them to join the wild crane population and migrate with them. The Zhalong nature reserve, covering 2,100 sq km, was set up in 1979. (Photo by Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo)





A boy stands next to an iPal robot at Avatarmind's booth at the World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, China on August 17, 2018. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





A woman works on socks that will be exported to the US at a factory in Huaibei in China' s eastern Anhui province on August 7, 2018. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)





Two farmers dry corn during harvest season in Tancheng in China's eastern Shandong province on August 30, 2018. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)





In this Thursday, August 2, 2018, aerial photo, the Micro-E Hotel's massive array of solar panels are spread over its property in Dezhou in the eastern Shandong province in China. The city of Dezhou began a drive to become a solar energy hub in China in 2005 and has since successfully courted national investment and backing. China is the world's biggest consumer and producer of solar technologies. (Photo by Sam McNeil/AP Photo)





In this photo taken shortly after midnight on August 9, 2018, a man sleeps in front of a shopping mall along Nanjing East Road, a popular pedestrian street filled with shoppers and tourists during the day, to escape the heat of residential apartments in Shanghai. Normally bustling Nanjing East Road has turned into an open- air slumber party on recent nights as local residents try to beat the heat of their cramped nearby homes by sleeping outside on benches or directly on the pavement. Many homes in some of Shanghai' s low- rise older neighbourhoods lack air conditioning, while residents that do have it will often seek ways to keep electricity bills from skyrocketing during summer. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)





A Chinese farmer harvests Buddha-shaped pears at his orchard in Lianghexia village, Weicheng town, Weixian county, Handan city, north China's Hebei province, China on August 8, 2018. A Chinese farmer in a village of Handan, north China's Hebei province, has harvested Buddha-shaped pears in his orchard. The Buddha-shaped pears, are sold at high price each. They don't have a natural kid shape, but are turned into that shape through “plastic surgery”, by putting a mould when the fruit starts to grow. Up to now, 28 kinds of unusual shaped pears have been planted. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Tibetan Buddhist monks and worshipers carry a massive Budda thanka on the first day of the traditional Sho Dun Festival at Drepung Monastery on August 11, 2018 in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and worshipers from all over the world were drawn to Tibet for the week-long Sho Dun Festival. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)





A Chinese girl sits on a cruise ship passing by in Hong Ya Dong or Red Cliff Cave, a popular tourist spot in Chongqing, China, 16 August 2018. Chongqing is a major city in the southwest of China and is one of the top tourism cities in the country with thousands of visitors thronging its popular tourists sites everyday. (Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA/EFE)





In this Thursday, August 2, 2018, photo, a woman yawns at a factory making swimming suits in Jinjiang city in southeast China's Fujian province. China's exports accelerated in July, showing little impact from a U.S. tariff hike, while sales to the United States rose 13.3 percent over a year earlier. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)





A newly launched bullet train undergoes a test run between Yancheng in Jiangsu province and Lianyungang in China's eastern Jiangsu province on August 31, 2018. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)





Spectators look upon during the opening ceremony of three games hosted by Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China on July 29, 2018. (Photo by Zhang Zhitao/Southern Metropolis Daily via Reuters)





People swim under a giant screen at an indoor swimming pool on a hot day in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China on August 12, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Participants pose at a photo shoot event organized to recreate wedding photos for elderly couples, who have been married for more than 50 years, a day ahead of the Qixi festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day, in Tianjin, China on August 16, 2018. (Photo by Tingshu Wang/Reuters)





People sitting inside a swimming pool play giant cards at a water park on a hot day in Chongqing, China on August 19, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





People eat hotpot at a table set up in a creek, inside a tourist attraction on a hot day in Chongqing, China on August 21, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





A man wades through a flooded street with two pigs following Typhoon Rumbia, at a village in Shouguang, Shandong province, China on August 23, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)





Security cameras and wires are seen at a crossroad in Shanghai, China August 29, 2018. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)





Visitors wear face masks at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China on August 30, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Chinese People's Liberation Army honour guard prepare for a welcome ceremony for President of Ivory Coast Alassane Ouattara at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 30, 2018. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/Reuters)





A girl, floating on a foam board, paddles with slippers as a man pushes the board through a flooded street, following heavy rainfall at a town in Shantou, Guangdong province, China on September 2, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Carp gather near bait fed by visitors at a lake inside a park in Beijing, Wednesday, August 15, 2018. Parks are popular venues for residents of the Chinese capital for gathering and exercising throughout the four seasons of the year. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)





Villagers on an electric bike herd their cattle along a road in the town of Boao in Qionghai, Hainan province, China on August 11, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Firefighters instruct children evacuating a school bus during a fire drill at a kindergarten in Cangzhou, Hebei province, China on August 27, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)





Rescue workers evacuate stranded residents by boat on a flooded street, following heavy rainfall at a village in Shantou, Guangdong province, China September 1, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)





Staff members climb down a cliff to eliminate potential falling rocks above a tunnel of Houma-Yueshan Railway in central China's Henan Province, August 9, 2018. Railway maintenance workers work on the cliff to clear loose rocks above a rail tunnel here during flood season. (Photo by Li Jianan/Xinhua/Alamy Live News)





This aerial photo shows children lining up for a flag- raising ceremony on their first day back to school after the summer holidays, at the playground of a middle school in Shanghai on September 3, 2018. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)





Zhao Deli waves as he pilots his self-made “flying scooter” in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, 12 August 2018 (issued 16 August 2018). Inspired by a cartoon he watched as a child, Zhao Deli sold off his apartment in pursuit of his dream of building a flying scooter. The inventor from Dongguan in southern China has invested heavily in his project, which so far has yielded just a test sample – the vehicle's outer shell still needs to be finished. By next year, he hopes to complete the project and send it out for mass production. Customers will have to pay between 38,000 and 50,000 RMB (5,500-7,200 USD) for the flying contraptions, and Zhao hopes to one day make the product available for sale overseas as well. The inventor sees several applications for his flying scooter, from local delivery companies to technical maintenance of various systems, as well as construction. Zhao also believes the scooter could be used for police and military surveillance; it can be easily customized to carry various types of weapons and other necessary equipment. When asked if anyone from the military had contacted him for possible cooperation, he said “I can't discuss that right now”. As well as use by officials or security forces, Zhao thinks that the manned drone could prove to be an effective solution to transport congestion, and he predicts an air traffic boom across large cities within 20 years. He also said he expects the Chinese government to pass regulations defining the use of manned drones in urbanized areas. While testing his device Zhao has flown it to a height of 15 meters, although he claims it is capable of soaring to 1,000 meters. He hopes to soon be able to upgrade the drone's battery, which would allow it to fly in a straight line for two hours, as opposed to its current flight capability of 30 minutes. The machine can carry one person, and flies at a top speed of around 70 km/h, with a maximum payload of about 100 kg. (Photo by Aleksandar Plavevski/EPA/EFE)