Guy uses soil to make lifelike clay sculptures for passersby. Screenshot of Sina News

A video of a man in North China's Shanxi Province who would find clay on the side of the road and promptly make clay sculptures for passersby has gone viral online, drawing attention of netizens.

The man, who is an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage of clay sculpture, can quickly make the clay sculpture on the roadside from passerby's faces by digging a piece of soil. The finished product is lifelike and even has subtle facial expressions. These clay sculptures, whether depicting men or women, the elderly or the young, calm or happy expressions, are fully displayed in detail. 

The sculptor, who has been making clay sculptures for more than 20 years, said he wanted to spread this art form and let more people feel the charm of clay sculptures in this way. "It's really amazing that the ordinary roadside soil has soul in his hands," another netizen said. 

Clay sculpture, commonly known as "colored sculpture," is a kind of traditional Chinese folk art, and it was selected into the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list on May 20, 2006.