Using living fungi, five students studying biology at Anqing Normal University in East China's Anhui Province, unveil their work of art featuring traditional Chinese landscapes. Photo: Screenshot from Pear Video

Five university students studying biology in East China's Anhui Province, spent months learning how to use living fungi as a medium for their works of art that depict traditional Chinese landscapes, some of which feature the expanse of the Great Wall.

According to a video posted by Pear Video, the works of art are made on a board with a growing medium for fungi of different colors that are used to depict cranes, pine trees, mountains and the Great Wall. 

The students used brushes to "paint" fungi spores on the broad and then waited for them to grow.  

The students said they made "countless" failed attempts to make a fungi "painting." They had trouble making the fungi grow in the shape they wanted or produce the right colors. 

One of the students, Chen Bosong, told the media that it takes about nine months to cultivate the fungi, and some fungi take longer to grow than others and have different growing seasons.

"What a romantic combination of science and art!" wrote an internet user on Sina Weibo, hailing the "artsy" experiments as beneficial to the students' studies.