Tao Xiangli, 34, a migrant worker in Beijing with only a primary school education, spent 18 months making the 1.5m high, 6.5m long sub. He tested it by taking it down to the bottom of a local river and staying there for nearly five minutes, reports the Legal Evening Post. He greeted onlookers with a triumphant V-sign as he opened the hatch after returning to the surface.

Tao said he made the battery-powered submarine without any expert advice for about £2,700: "I made it bit by bit, purely out of my imagination," he explained. Most of the parts came from flea markets. The sonar was improvised from a stethoscope, while the periscope is made out of an old camera. The body of the submarine is made out of five oil drums. The cone-shaped head is stuffed with rocks and sand to help it submerge while a propeller at the rear gives it thrust.

Four directional controllers allow movement forwards and backwards, right and left, and upward and downward. "The principle is very easy. The submarine bottom has two holes, which are closed when it's floating," he said. "When the holes are open, water can flow in and the submarine can go down. If it needs to rise up again, I only need to press the air into the bottom space to dispel the water out."

What is he farming? Water cress?

How far to the sea? 2,500 miles? Bugger...

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