Police were flooded with phone calls from bewildered residents as the airship drifted off course.
The remote controlled prototype, the creation of aviation company Datian Aviation, drifted for hundreds of miles across the country without anyone getting a clear look at it.
'We had many calls along its route from people wondering what it was. Most thought it was a UFO of some sort until it landed and we could identify it,' a police spokesman said.
The airship eventually landed in a paddy field in Hauyan village in eastern China, giving local farmers a sci-fi experience to remember.
A spokesman for Datian Aviation said: 'We apologise for any inconvenience but the airship is completely harmless. It just flew out of range of the remote control unit.'
