The images also reveal the dangers of flying handmade aircraft, based on knowledge cobbled from years of trial and error. As Meit writes, “some dreamers have been hurt so badly that they’ll never walk again. Some even laid down their lives for their hobby. While many of the ‘lucky’ ones – who still live to tell the tale – have spent decades without ever even experiencing the sensation of defying gravity.”

Su Guibin – also from Chaozhou – had worked as a lift mechanic and in IT before becoming obsessed with aircraft. Challenging himself to build his own helicopter, he pieced the parts together from unexpected sources: the joystick was taken from a video game console. It was not without risk: in 2014, while flying an aircraft built by a fellow aeronaut, Su crashed into a telegraph pole, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

“I’ve been bedbound for three years,” he told Xu. “My toes have recently regained some feeling. However, the doctor said full recovery is still not guaranteed. The only thing I can do is wait in bed. A day in bed seems like a year to me.” Even so, according to Xu, “the first thing he plans to do after recovery is fly his aircraft”. Her photos of him are not downbeat – he lies in bed, or sits in his wheelchair, with an expression that is hopeful rather than defeated.