Category: China

This short article in the China Daily News, filed under “Odd News,” is reprinted in full here because the flavor of the report is best conveyed by reading the entire item.

Hermit, 72, comes out after 40 years in wild
(China Daily) Updated: 2007-03-09 09:21

A man emerged from his mountain home in Taiwan after 40 years of living as a hermit.

A farmer found the man, surnamed Peng, now 72, who had lived alone, surviving by eating herbs and drinking spring water. He lived in a room built of bamboo and wood. A stove and knife were the only facilities he owned.

Peng lost a lawsuit in 1967 and, in his rage, ran into the wild, vowing never to return to the city. After the farmer found him, Peng, for the first time in his life, had a chance to taste instant noodles.

(China Times News)

URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-03/09/content_823532.htm.

Here is a cryptically brief news item entitled “Man Prefers Simple Life Alone in Wild,” from the Beijing China Daily web site. URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/06/content_431689.htm. It is short enough to reproduce in full here.

Man prefers simple life alone in wild

A 58-year-old man in Tonglian County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has enjoyed life as castaway in the mountains for nine years, the Nanguo Morning News reports.

The recluse began his way of life when he discovered that his long absence in the village made the village authorities forget his existence.

Yang Genlin decided to live in the remote mountains, eating wild vegetables and mushrooms at a small paddy in the woods.

Yang said being alone both at home and in the woods is preferable to him. He’d rather continue his life in the mountains befriending birds in the trees and frogs in the bourn.