China-based news source Sixth Tone features and article, with video, titled “The Hermit Culture Living On in China’s Misty Mountains” with byline “Disillusioned recluses have come to the Zhongnan Mountains for centuries. Now, a government campaign threatens their way of life.” From the website:
In the past decade, thousands of young people like Zhang have come to the Zhongnan Mountains hoping to connect with around 600 modern-day hermits, or yinshi, according to estimates by Zhongnan Cottage, a local civic organization. Hermitic lifestyles have a long history in China: During the dynastic era, the term was applied to educated, conscientious men who fled from the social expectation to join what they perceived as a corrupt, immoral government and eked out poor lives in remote rural China. Occasionally, emperors rewarded hermits with high-ranking government positions, believing them to possess deeper wisdom than conventional officials.
URL: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003932/the-hermit-culture-living-on-in-chinas-misty-mountains; https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-05-11/the-hermit-culture-living-on-in-chinas-misty-mountains-101414004.html