Discovering gut drones, riding with senior bikers and becoming a bangbang

A 35-day, 2,000-kilometer journey to 11 cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt showed how the area has been transformed by 40 years of reform and opening-up. Erik Nilsson reports.

Editor's note: Discover China: Behind the Rapid Growth is a China Daily documentary series exploring how reform and opening-up has transformed the country over the past four decades. Three foreign journalists journeyed thousands of kilometers through three major economic zones to discover the secrets of human history's greatest economic miracle. They traveled to 28 cities in 90 days, jumping in the way of self-driving buses, breaking mobile phones, catching fish, driving drones, riding motorcycles, joining a distinctive group of porters, and so much more. This is the behind-the-scenes story.

I recently drove a gastrointestinal-camera drone the size and shape of a pill in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.