Chinese Man Abandons City Life To Embrace Solitude In Cave, Calls Marriage 'A Waste of Time'

A 35-year-old Chinese man from Sichuan province has chosen a life of solitude in a cave, having declared work and marriage to be "without meaning".

After spending 10 hours a day working as a ride-hailing driver to help clear family debts, Min Hengcai found the work unfulfilling.

Photo Credit: Pexels

In 2021, Hengcai walked away from his $1,400-a-month job to embrace a reclusive life, far removed from the stresses of urban living, South China Morning Post reported.

He still owes banks $42,000 but has decided to stop attempting to repay the debt, having felt disillusioned after his relatives sold off his properties.

He exchanged his land for a smaller plot that includes a 50-square-metre cave and spent around $6,000 transforming it into a modest dwelling.

His daily routine is simple - he rises at 8 a.m., spends his day reading, walking and tending to his land, and retires by 10 p.m. He lives off vegetables he grows himself and limits his spending strictly to necessities.

He has described his cave as a "black hole" to serve as a reminder of his own insignificance.

Interestingly, despite his reclusive lifestyle, he documents his life on social media, where he has amassed 40,000 followers and is earning potential income through live-streaming.

Hengcai said this minimalist lifestyle had long appealed to him during his time in the city.

He has also rejected the idea of marriage, labelling it "a waste of time and money", and believes the chance of finding true love is too slim to justify the effort.

"The probability of finding true love is very low. Why would I want to work hard for something so rare?" he told Sichuan Television.

His story has stirred major discussion online, with some branding him as "tang ping" - or "lying flat" - a term used for those doing the bare minimum to get by.

Others, however, hailed him as a "true philosopher" for defying societal expectations, despite only having a basic level of formal education.

"This is life in heaven," one user remarked.

Still, some critics have questioned the genuineness of his isolation, highlighting his regular live-streams and media interviews as being at odds with his claimed detachment from society.