From the grasslands to the sea

While surfing returned Chen Tong-ming home to Taiwan, the sport has taken Tie Zhuang out of his remote hometown in Inner Mongolia and to the seaside.

Tie, 30, had been working on construction sites and railways across the country before he went back to the autonomous region in 2009.Having killed time at home for three months, he decided to join his younger brother in Wanning, Hainan province.

Despite coming from a grassland region where horse riding is the norm, Tie had a natural affinity for water. Over his parents' objections, he would go to a reservoir near his home to swim when he was young.