For years, locals at the foot of Cang Mountain in Dali City, Yunnan Province, have been familiar with the sight of Zhao Dian carrying a 15 kg backpack and wearing worn-out shoes bought at a market for 80 yuan, the South China Morning Post said.

Zhao lives in a red fabric tent riddled with holes that leaks when it rains. He eats two meals a day, including one free vegetarian meal from a temple. He kept his total monthly living expenses to only 100 yuan.

Zhao was born into a wealthy family. His father is a successful construction materials businessman, and the family’s villa in Shanghai is fitted with a private elevator. His parents frequently travel to the UK for golf, according to local news outlet 163.

Zhao holds three master’s degrees from universities in China, Australia and France, and previously interned at financial corporations in Paris.

But he said he felt indifferent toward money and elite social norms. He was also fed up with luxury travel and uncomfortable with social expectations, such as his girlfriend’s insistence on wearing the right perfume.

Zhao said he often asked his family for 10,000 AUD ($7,000) whenever he ran out of money while studying abroad and spending most of the allowance on luxury bags for his girlfriend while he slept on a sofa in a shared apartment.

During his time working in Paris, Zhao fell into depression and spent three months playing video games in isolation. He later applied for a dishwashing job at a Chinese restaurant, which he said changed his life.

Zhao worked up to 11 hours a day at the sink. He said the job, while physically draining, brought him a sense of calm and mental clarity. It allowed him to focus on the task at hand without distractions, he added.

In 2023, Zhao returned to China and took on various manual jobs, including cleaning rooms and scrubbing toilets in Chengdu City, before settling into a nomadic lifestyle in Dali. He said he started sleeping and getting up early and quit smoking and gaming. He works one to two hours a day, stopping once he earns enough for food.

He said he avoids holding large sums of money and after accumulating several thousand yuan, he donated it all to a homeless friend.

“Washing dishes could bring happiness, so why wait for an ideal job?” he said.