The giant Monkey King made by Dongying artist Fan Lijie with fallen branches. [Photo/VCG]

What can you make from a pile of fallen branches? For one artist in Shandong province, the answer was a 7-meter-tall sculpture of the Monkey King that has captivated millions online.

In Dongying's Kenli district, creator Fan Lijie spent over two months collecting discarded branches and assembling them into a giant likeness of Sun Wukong, the legendary hero of Journey to the West. Using nothing but nails and his hands, he layered thousands of rough twigs to capture the Monkey King's iconic mix of quiet defiance and sorrow.

The work, entirely self-funded and born from personal passion, quickly went viral on Chinese social media, drawing crowds of visitors to the rural site.

Fan's project extends beyond the sculpture. He has transformed his family's 3.5-mu (0.23-hectare) plot into a small countryside park that combines art, hands-on farming experiences and nature education. The branches, sourced from urban tree-pruning waste, will eventually decompose and return to the soil, while the gaps between them can even serve as nesting spots for birds.

"Trees come from the earth, grow from the earth, and return to the earth," Fan said. "Using fallen branches is an environmentally friendly approach, and it’s my own way of bringing the Monkey King I envision to life."