Grand plan

Xiong is focusing on promoting permaculture beyond the boundaries of his farm. His ambitious project revolves around handcrafting canoes and having visitors explore the island's many waterways on them.

Chongming has a round-the-island canal, 28 district-level rivers, over 700 town-level rivers and 15,000 village waterways.

"The island has so many waterways but all people do these days is travel by cars," says Xiong. "My wish is to revive the canal culture on the island."

The idea for this project stemmed from a world tour in 2013. During that trip, he learned about the sailing scene in Europe. Cruises in Greece and sailboats on Zurich Lake in Switzerland interested him a lot. While waiting for a flight in an airport in Norway, he chanced upon a magazine about canoes that intrigued him.