A 35-year-old man in China, who views work and marriage as pointless, has spent the last four years residing in a cave.
Min Hengcai, from Sichuan province in southwestern China, calls the modified cavern in his hometown his dwelling.
In late 2021, he quit his ride-hailing job, which earned him around 10,000 yuan (USD 1,400) monthly in the city, and returned home to live in isolation.
Min said he found employment meaningless. Previously, he worked 10-hour days to repay debts owed to relatives.
He still owes 300,000 yuan (USD 42,000) to banks and lending platforms but has given up on repayment, claiming his relatives sold his properties that could have settled the debts.
Instead, he traded his land with a neighbor for a smaller plot—one-fourth the size—in exchange for access to a nearby cave. He spent 40,000 yuan (USD 6,000) transforming the 50-square-meter space into a livable home.
Min wakes at 8 a.m., spends his days reading, walking, and tending to his crops, then retires at 10 p.m. His diet mainly consists of vegetables he grows himself.
He claims his expenses are minimal, limited to basic necessities.
“This is exactly the lifestyle I imagined while working in the city,” Min said.
He also shares his life on social media, where he has 40,000 followers and earns income from live-streaming. He named his cave the “black hole” to symbolize it being his entire universe—a reminder of his own insignificance.
In an interview with Sichuan TV, Min dismissed marriage as a “waste of time and money.”
“The chance of finding true love is slim. Why struggle for something so unlikely?” he said.
His story has ignited intense online debate.
Some label him as “lying flat” (tang ping)—a Chinese term for minimal effort in life—while others praise him as a “true philosopher,” despite his lack of formal education.
“One viewer said this is ‘heavenly living,’ ” while another questioned his seclusion: “He’s still live-streaming and giving interviews. Is he really detached from society?”
