As years passed, that young boy with a knack for turning trash into treasure has become a master artisan. Li is renowned throughout his community for creating exquisite sculptures out of these metal scraps he has salvaged from these junkyards near his studio.

Recently, his series of 12 zodiac animal sculptures made from discarded metal earned him the gold prize at a cultural and creative design competition held in Taiyuan.

Inspired by traditional Chinese paintings, in which artists use a freehand brush technique to convey a feeling or impression, rather than representing an exact likeness of the subject, Li captures the spirit and essence of the animals, rather than striving for an exact physical representation, in his artworks.

"When designing and creating these sculptures, if I ever got stuck or had some free time, I would often wander around nearby junkyards, waiting for a small discarded item to spark new inspiration," he says.

For instance, before creating the final version of the rabbit sculpture, he had already made two previous, unsatisfactory attempts.

But one day, while wandering around in a junkyard, he picked up a small, curved metal sheet and had the sudden inspiration to use it for the rabbit's upper mouth, which added a vivid touch to the sculpture.