Profile | Beloved China ‘Useless Edison’ rumoured to have retired keeps creating bizarre gadgets
Inspired by science fiction and Hong Kong comedy, rural inventor vows to continue making laugh-making creations of little use
An inventor in rural China widely known as the country’s “Useless Edison” is rumoured to have retired because he has “made too much money” and disappeared from social media for five months.
Shougong Geng, or Handy Geng, denied the rumour on October 21, saying he was only “dissatisfied” with the things he made and promised to release videos soon.
The 36-year-old was known by his real name Geng Shuai for the first three decades of his life.
After dropping out of school at 16, he left his village in northern China’s Hebei province and became a migrant worker in Beijing.
Geng worked on construction sites, repaired houses, sold mobile phones, and welded rails for the Beijing-Shijiazhuang high-speed railway.
He learned welding techniques from his blacksmith father, who believed his children should settle down with a stable job.
