Back to basics

The view from the balcony of the Yun Xi Shang hostel. [Photo/China Daily]

The hostel features huge windows which usher in copious amounts of natural light in the day and it has a small cafe that serves decent Americano. The minimalist and comfortable space also has an terrace where guests can relax and admire the starry skies. There is a serenity that permeates the entire place that one can never find in a metropolis, and when night falls, only the sounds of the nearby stream and the occasional barking of the dogs in the vicinity can be heard.

"This is the way life should be," Ji says.

The duo is one of a small group of urban elites to make their journey in the opposite direction when almost all young people from the villages still think that the only measure of success is to own an apartment and have a decent job in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Ask any one of the 274 million migrant workers in China about his or her reason for seeking work in the big cities and the most likely reason would be that farming, with its harsh conditions and meager income, is simply not worth it.

According to the National Statistics Bureau, residents in urban areas earned 1.73 times more than their counterparts in the rural areas in 2015, down from the 2.3 times in 2009. This income gap is the predominant factor that influences millions of farmers, especially young people, to abandon their hoes and head to greener pastures in the cities, with many of them ending up as workers on construction sites and assembly lines.

In recent years, however, a group of people－most of whom are young and well educated－have instead been going against the grain, heading from major Chinese cities to relatively remote mountainous regions such as Deqing county, East China's Zhejiang province, to pursue their dreams.

"I hope to go even further. My plan is to be more involved in the local community of this beautiful place," Ji says.