Six Chinese farmers and their 'Dreamliner'

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If you can't afford to buy one, build it. A group of six aviation enthusiasts from northeast China's Liaoning Province have built a full-size model of an Airbus A320 jet plane, spending nearly three million yuan (about 435,000 U.S. dollars).

This full-size replica of an Airbus A320 has been a real buzz on Chinese social media platforms, even though it cannot fly.

The head of the group, Zhu Yue from Kaiyuan City, didn't even finish middle school and began farming onions and garlic before moving on to welding work in a factory.

Zhu Yue welds inside the full-size replica of Airbus A320. /VCG Photo

Five fellow aircraft enthusiasts-cum-laborers helped Zhu speed the project along. At first, all they had to work on was a toy model, then they started measuring the aircraft's dimensions and studying online photos. After weeks of trials and failures, they finally tasted success.

Initially, the six farmers only set out to build a house modeled on the commercial jet. But the project gradually grew bigger and turned into a full-size aircraft. They have invested all their lives savings into the project to realize their childhood dream.

"At first my parents were totally against it. Some friends thought I must be out of my mind spending that amount of money on this! But, I did not give up," said Zhu.

Zhu Yue and his friends work to build a full-scale replica of Airbus A320, Kaiyuan City, Liaoning Province, April 3, 2018. /VCG Photo

The plane's latest additions are a self-made cockpit, fitted with replica flight instruments, and stairs to get aboard.

Zhu's A320 cannot be flown, but they have other plans.

"This is my dream and I am realizing it. Dreamliner commercial purposes, we will probably open a restaurant or a hotel inside the plane," Zhu answered.

China is trying to promote the spirit of innovation and creativity in this new era where people are not afraid to be aspirational. As Zhu said, "It's better to have an impossible dream than no dream at all."