王珊珊

For Li Zhining， Lego is not just a toy. It is a form of art.

As a native of Panyu District in Guangzhou， capital of Guangdong Province， he has recently completed the construction of a functioning model of Beijing’s Forbidden City out of thousands of Lego blocks. The miniature， on display at his studio， surprises and attracts many friends and visitors， especially Lego fans.

The model recreates 70 palaces and the 9，000 rooms of the Forbidden City. It also includes its city walls， moat， four city gates and all of its turrets. The 39-year-old said it took him more than eight months to complete the model， which is 4 meters long and 2.4 meters wide. He used more than 700，000 bricks and accessories （配件） to build it， all of which were existing pieces and not specially customized.

The most difficult part of Lego is creativity， he said. Li spent months studying the history of the Forbidden City and ancient Chinese archi-tecture before starting to build his miniature. “That was to ensure a realistic model and create an accurate representation of the Forbidden City，” Li said.

He named his model I am Chinese， and said that he hoped it would demonstrate to the world the spirit and wisdom of the Chinese people， Chinese traditional arts and the power of Chinese originality.

Li began to fall in love with Lego in 2008. He now has around 11 metric tons and more than 100 million pieces of Lego blocks valued at about 4 million yuan. Local residents and friends call him a “Lego maniac”.

In the past， he has made other models out of Lego， including Notre-Dame in Paris， the Palace of Westminster， Guangzhou’s Liede Bridge and Canton Tower， dragon boats and buildings from online multiplayer game World of Warcraft. In fact， Li made his Lego dragon boat two years before Lego officially launched its own limited edition dragon boat kits.

He became well-known to Lego makers and fans when the first Lego exhibition was held in nearby Foshan city in 2016. In his 300-square-meter studio， he has all kinds of models and collections on display. A local Lego fan said Li’s models are memorable and worth collecting.