Ananova:

A Chinese man has drifted more than 1,500 miles down the country's longest river in a tyre inner-tube.

Cheng Yanhua, 41, took 43 days to finish the journey along the Yangtze river from his home town of Jinzhou city to Shanghai.

He undertook the journey because he wanted to promote the Olympic spirit, reports the Shanghai Evening Post.

Cheng said: “I put a basin in the tire for my feet, while sitting on a board on top of the tire. And I had two small bamboo paddles. That was all.

“All day long I drifted on the current and with the wind. The two paddles were to control direction and speed.”

But at his last stop, less than an hour’s journey to his final destination, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Cheng was spotted by Shanghai water patrol, who forced him to land, fearing he would disturb normal water traffic.

However, the patrol sent him to the tower on a coastguard cutter to complete his journey.