A 41-year-old Chinese man, funded by his wife, is going to drift down the 5,464-km Yellow River, China's second longest river, alone for 10 months, www.xkb.com.cn reported on Monday.

A 41-year-old Chinese man, funded by his wife, is going to drift down the 5,464-km Yellow River, China's second longest river, alone for 10 months.

Shanmite (previous name Li Huacan) from Zhuhai City in south China's Fujian Province, announced his plan on Monday.

Having been a canoe enthusiast for eight years, the man said the possible completion of his drifting plan is expected to make him the first canoe drifter in the world to conquer the turbulent Yellow River alone.

Shanmite said the drifting plan will start on May 1 from the source of the Yellow River, located in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province, to the mouth of the river in Dongying City in Shandong Province. The journey will span 5,464 kilometers, cover nine provinces and all the four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

He also showed his 'boat' – a 2.8-meter-long and 0.9-meter-wide rubber raft. "A Chinese team first started to drift down the Yellow River as early as May 1, 1987. Unfortunately, seven drifters lost their lives during that journey. But this time, I will come back alive," he said.

He revealed that he is only worried about one thing – life insurance. Shanmite has been trying to find an insurance company to insure him for his forthcoming adventure trip. "In the event of an accident, I hope it could provide for my family in the future." However, so far, no company has been willing to provide insurance for his adventure.

Shanmite said his wife Zhang Haiyan had supported him unconditionally. The forthcoming drift is estimated to cost about 300,000 yuan (about US$48,300). "I will use my year-end bonus for my husband's drift expedition," said Zhang.

His wife works as a senior manager in a foreign-funded company, and earns a considerable income. However, most of her income has been used for her husband's drifting in the past eight years, a fact which is not understood and accepted by many of her relatives and friends.

Shanmite used to work in a foreign-funded company, too. He spent three or four months each year engaging in this primitive-like adventure. As he couldn't apply himself to two things at the same time, he finally chose to resign in 2007.

Over the past eight years, Shanmite has been to many rivers and straits on his rubber raft, including traveling 3,000 kilometers across the Qiongzhou Strait and the Bohai Gulf Strait, and around the coastlines of Hainan Island, Thailand and Cambodia. In 2014, he spent 64 days drifting down the 2,400-km Pearl River in south China.

Shanmite said he experienced various soul-stirring scenes and escaped from the jaws of death many times. Once, he was traveling in the sea from Thailand to Cambodia when a two-meter crocodile suddenly appeared in front of him. The confrontation between the two lasted more than one hour and finally Shanmite made a narrow escape.

Many people do not understand why Shanmite quit his stable work to lead a wandering life. "They said I just have too much extra energy," he said.

"I used to care a lot about other people's opinions and argue with them. But now I don't. People have their own ideas and ways of life. As long as I feel it's meaningful, it's ok," he said.

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