Category: China

The Daily Mail (UK) offers a summary (originally Agence France-Presse) of contemporary hermits in China’s Zhongnan Mountains, profiling several in an article titled “China’s mountain hermits seek a highway to heaven.” Among hermits in the article: Master Hou (pictured above), Wang Gaofeng, Liu Jingchong, Li Yunqi, and Gao Ming — the latter two are women, and, surprisingly, half of the hermits of Zhongnan are women.

Almost all the hermits are younger aspirants quitting their congested urban homes for the freedom of the mountains. Some are part-time dabblers who come to the mountains on a weekend to try out the hermit life. Bill Porter has become an inspiration to many thoughtful Chinese men and women curious about Taoism, Buddhism, and eremitism.

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2875587/Chinas-mountain-hermits-seek-highway-heaven.html

The Beijing Review Facebook page includes a series of 5 photos of Yang Zhongyou, an 82-year-old recluse in the Qinling Mountains, southern Shaanxi Province. He is shown “splitting wood to heat his lodge, nestled deep in the mountains.” Other photos feature his hut and sleeping place. The entry adds: “A number of secluded old men have been discovered inhabiting the Qinling Mountains in harsh conditions.”

URL: https://www.facebook.com/BJReview/posts/884058288292304

From the Mirror (UK): “Chinese hermit found living in cave for 20 years – which is 50ft climb up a cliff face,” published August 22, 2013. (The article is reprinted here because so many such articles on the web tend to disappear too soon.)

Authorities have tried to place Feng Mingshan, 54, in a nursing home but he keeps escaping and heading back to his cave home high above a ravine

Some people like to have their own chair or their own room in the house to get a slice of the quiet life, but one Chinese man has chosen a cave 50ft high to get away from the neighbours.

Feng Mingshan, 54, has lived in a cave high above a ravine, which is only accessible by a vertical climb, in the southern Shaanxi Province and two-hours away from his native Gaobadian for 20 years.

The hermit, who claimed to have found the cave when was a boy, has made some home improvements to his cosy dwelling, but failed to say why he chose this life.

“It was a small cave when I found it, and I expanded it to its current size using a hammer,” he said, shouting to a reporter outside the cave.

“I also cleared the path through the ravine. Summer is cool here and it’s good.”

The cave entrance has a curtain hanging at the entrance, and his family revealed they do keep in contact Feng – though none of his brothers have made it up the steep climb.

“My brother seldom talks to others and has never been engaged. But he’s lived in there for over 20 years,” said his younger brother.

Residents say Feng is often seen in the village looking for supplies and are amazed by what he does to get in and out of his cave.

One resident said: “He usually comes out at night and climbs in and out the cave with ease. It’s really amazing.”

However, local government officials are wanting to persuade Feng to move from his home, even trying to put Feng in a nursing home several times, but he eventually escaped after failing to get along with other residents.

According to town mayor Xu Min, Feng was diagnosed with intermittent psychosis in 2011, and moved back into his cave after briefly receiving treatment.

“Some local officials went to visit Feng a few days ago and waited for two hours with no sight of him,” said Xu. who said the local government will continue to support Feng and persuade him to move from the cave.

URL: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-hermit-found-living-cave-2206085

American writer Bill Porter (published occasionally as Red Pine) translates Chinese poetry and pursues the world of Chinese hermits as an independent scholar. Here is a fine article from January 2013 from Chinese documentary television, which concentrates on Porter’s October 2012 literary tour of China and the positive reception it received.

URL: http://english.cntv.cn/program/documentary/20130110/108722.shtml