He covers Beijing in dragons

Qi Xinghua's work Collision at the Sarasota Chalk Festival in Florida.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Qi Xinghua is a dominant figure in the Chinese capital's nascent street art scene, Dominic Morgan reports

'I think there is a close connection between me and the dragons," says Qi Xinghua, smiling shyly.

Looking around the street artist's Beijing studio, that is clear to see. A dozen of his trademark shaggy dragons are swooping across the huge canvases covering the concrete floor, while another gazes somberly into the distance from an easel by the sofa. Yet another stares out from Qi's black T-shirt.

Like the British street artist Banksy and his rats, dragons have become Qi's calling card since he emerged as the dominant figure in Beijing's nascent street art scene earlier this year.

The 34-year-old has sprayed eight dragons on walls around Beijing so far, and he recently declared his intention to cover the Chinese capital with a hundred of his hairy serpents over the coming months.

These few works have been an immediate hit with Chinese netizens, with Qi's posts about his latest works regularly amassing thousands of likes and hundreds of comments on Weibo, the Chinese microblogging site.