For most high school students in China, studying hard to prepare for the Gaokao, the national college entrance exam, is the most important task. But a 17-year-old teenage from Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province has been busy outside of school, creating inventions that had seen him awarded nine national patents and represent China at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) last year.

Li Chentian tests his new invention in his laboratory – a thermal liquid sensor. [Photo: Guangzhou Daily]

Li Chentian has showed an interest in electronic devices since he was only two years old. When he was nine years old he created a Freon-free electronic refrigerator. He was 12 years old when he came up with a solar-powered intelligent well lid management system. Now, Li is researching a design for a pump that can adjust temperature and pressure based on the environment.

Li Chentian says you need to have a strong sense of curiosity and be willing to spend a lot of time on research and experiments if you want to be an inventor.

"All of my ideas for inventions come from the daily life," said Li. Inspired by watching staff hard at work deicing high voltage power lines after heavy snow swept through south China in 2008, Li got the idea to create an automatic deicing device. After years of experiments, Li successfully created a prototype and won the "Best Project Award" at the recent Global Innovation Exchange in the United States, a global partnership between major research universities and innovative corporations to develop leaders in innovation.

Li thanks his parents for supporting his interests, saying "My parents never forced me to attend extra-curricular classes or evaluate my performance on exam scores." Li's father has invested more than one million yuan buying the most advanced equipment to set up a laboratory for him.



