Anna FIFIELD
YANG VILLAGE, China — His fans call him “The Useless Edison.” But inventor Geng Shuai doesn’t mind. In fact, he kind of likes it.
“People say my inventions are useless, but I think there are two dimensions to usefulness: practicality and amusement,” said the 30-year-old former welder, who left his job last year to focus full time on making his questionable contraptions, such as a motorbike with its own toilet. “I like doing this. So it’s useful.” Every country has its toolshed inventors. But China – which gave the world movable-type printing, gunpowder and the compass – has spawned a population of tinkerers who display the kind of outsize ambition that has helped the country become a global economic giant.