Grassroots Inventor

Lesser-known inventor Song Youzhou's creature—the Straddling Bus—has been listed in the 50 Best Inventions of 2010 by Time magazine.

With more than 50 invention patents, 52-year-old Song is now board chairman of the Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment Co., which he founded with several partners last year.

The straddling bus is inspired by rush-hour grid-locked traffic in major Chinese cities and may reduce road traffic by 20 to 30 percent, said Song.

Song's designed bus runs along special tracks 4.5 meters above a road surface so ordinary cars can pass underneath it. It can carry up to 1,400 passengers and travel as fast as 60 km to 80 km an hour.

Though having no more than six years of schooling, keen observation provided the tools for Song to invent many objects to meet people's daily need. Besides the straddling bus, he is also very proud of his confetti firework. The firework has been widely used in China for various big events.