He covers Beijing in dragons

A dozen of Qi's trademark shaggy dragons are swooping across the huge canvases covering Beijing's concrete walls.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Interviews with The Wall Street Journal, Guardian and Global Times soon followed, and the label "China's Banksy" has already been applied to him more than once.

Qi's stratospheric rise is all the more amazing when you consider that until March, he had never sprayed on Beijing's streets before. He had never even considered it as a possibility.

A chance conversation with a graffiti writer in Dubai this February provided him with the light bulb moment.

"Before, I thought that graffiti was permitted in other countries. I thought the environment in China for graffiti was very unfriendly, but then I realized that it is actually very friendly compared to many countries," Qi tells China Daily.

That was all the encouragement Qi needed, and before long his works were popping up around Chaoyang district on a regular basis.