16 | Wednesday, February 10, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY YOUTH

Left: Yang Zhihua, a minimalism consultant, reads a book at home in Beijing. Right: Qiao Sang, a minimalist, who works at a travel agency in Hebei province, practices yoga at home in Shijiazhuang. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY The simple life

More people are getting rid of clutter and keeping purchases down to a bare minimum, Yang Feiyue reports.

t may be an oxymoron but it The experience made Yang realize experiences online. are left hanging, which was a far suggested she take her simple living still rings true, especially these that freeing himself of his obsession Publication houses approached cry from her past life. further. days. More people are realiz­ toward clothes gave him more time him and helped him publish two “I used to buy clothes in bulk,” Qiao has since scaled back on ing the benefits of “less is to do things that are actually benefi­ books in 2017 and 2019. There are too Qiao says. ordering takeout. She buys fresh Imore” after cutting their life down cial. It also motivated him to review Yang’s followers started to grow. Since college, Qiao had indulged food every day and cooks herself. many things that to the bare necessities. his previous lifestyle. To date, he has accrued about 1 her urge to shop with her ability to Whenever she feels like buying Take Yang Zhihua for example. It million fans on various social media compete for our make money through part­time jobs. something, the item must justify used to be almost torturous for him Letting it go platforms, including Douban, attention. If we She acted as a tour guide for itself: She will ask herself if she will to decide what he should wear Before 2012, Yang recalls, he had WeChat and Douyin, which has ena­ expats in Beijing over the weekends, use it often and if it is worth the before leaving his apartment. never thought twice about buying bled him to start a business as a don’t set which gave her 3,000­4,000 yuan space it will take. “I didn’t have a good physique, so things he wanted. minimalism consultant. boundaries, we ($465­620) a month. “The easy Currently, Qiao is assured that I hoped to cover it up with clothes It turned out to be double trouble. He also holds a monthly Spartan money encouraged my desire for everything in her apartment is a and make myself look better,” says “I couldn’t save money and the life training session. will be very buying,” Qiao says. necessity. the Beijing resident in his early 40s. things I bought became a burden,” “Most of us have found that prob­ tired.” She spent what she earned and “Not spending has given me time When the clothes he bought failed Yang says. “Moreover, it was spiritu­ lems can be easily spotted and dealt continued this way of living after to think of things at work and to do the trick, he went looking for ally painful when you went out of with, when things are simplified,” Yang Zhihua, a Beijing­ she graduated from college and got observe other people’s mentality,” more that might. your way to impress people who just Yang says. based minimalism a job in a travel agency. she says. consultant “I suspected that, maybe the couldn’t appreciate (your efforts).” “People are giving me positive In her craziest shopping moments, “I also read a lot more than clothes I bought were not good Seeing the error of his ways, Yang feedback and, when I find out that she would buy several hats of the before,” she adds. She has read 30 enough, so I began to buy my way up first dealt with his piled­up clothes. I’ve helped improve their life, or their same style, just in different colors. books since mid­November. to luxury items,” he says. He cut his items of clothing down family relationships, it empowers “I could buy the things I wanted, So far, Qiao has kept daily tabs of The scales fell from Yang’s eyes to 20 for all four seasons, before me to keep doing what I do.” Everyone should because money spent could always things she consumes and shares her when he found that even those moving onto his other belongings, As far as Yang’s understanding of a be made back,” she says. experience with her 90,000 follow­ expensive clothes couldn’t give him including furniture. Spartan life or minimalism goes, he find their own She didn’t realize the burden of ers on the popular social commerce the image of himself he had in his He got rid of the old sofa, TV stand says it should boil down to personal minimalist her years of consumerism until she platform Xiaohongshu, also known mind. and bedstead, and brought in a table choice. was about to move into her newly­ as Little Red Book. To make things worse, they with wheels. “Most people can only stick to it if lifestyle... You purchased apartment, with a floor She has used her influence and became a burden. He owned about “My home was bigger and more they feel the benefits,” he says. will discover space of about 90 square meters, in brought together people who are 1,000 items of clothing at the peak of comfortable, easier to clean with the Yang is part of an increasing num­ Shijiazhuang, provincial capital of interested in living the simplest pos­ his spending spree. robot vacuum,” he says, adding that ber adopting an accumulation­averse many interesting Hebei, in 2019. sible life in two WeChat groups. Most of them ended up being he could just move the mattress to lifestyle. They have trimmed person­ things about “My home was designed with no Each group has more than 400 buried in the deep recesses of his do yoga in the living room, enjoy al items to a minimum, and thrown storage space,” Qiao says. members. wardrobe. sunshine on the balcony in winter away or donated unwanted things. life while It forced her to take stock of her “It is more like a trading platform, “You don’t want to wear a piece of and avoid the summer heat in the For necessities, they choose the experimenting.” belongings. and people can give away things they clothing if it doesn’t look good on shade with his movable table. best within their budget and make That was when she found that don’t need to those that do,” she says. you,” Yang says. Worse still, they All of these practical benefits full use of them. Qiao Sang, a minimalist, many of her 200 items of clothing “All transactions are free of charge.” cluttered his living space, he adds. encouraged Yang to carry on the reduc­ who works in a travel Qiao advises her followers not to agency in Hebei province and 40 pairs of shoes had barely That was when he started to do tive lifestyle to achieve just the bare From spender to saver been touched over the years. focus too much on the definition of some soul­searching and decided on necessities and to live more simply. In North China’s Hebei province, So, she gave most away and only “freeganism”, an extremely low con­ solving his image problem at the He has confined phone use to one Qiao Sang has carried on her absti­ kept those she wears often. sumption lifestyle. source. hour a day and never stockpiles food. nent lifestyle for more than two “Life suddenly became easy and “Everyone should find their own “I started to work out and pay “There are too many things that months. convenient,” Qiao says, adding that minimalist lifestyle, with the bot­ attention to what I ate based on rele­ compete for our attention. If we The young woman, born in the she no longer has to waste time wor­ tom line being reasonable in terms vant science,” Yang says. don’t set boundaries, we will be very 1990s, began out of curiosity and rying about what to wear. of nutrition and food safety,” Qiao It took just several months before tired,” Yang explains. has fully fallen for it. says. “You will discover many inter­ he saw an improvement in his body Her home has since been reduced Constant self-reflection esting things about life while shape, and he was excited to see that Gain beyond pain to six pieces of furniture, including a When Qiao broadcast herself experimenting.” anything, whatever it cost, looked A windfall of Yang’s change of dining table with a chair, a sofa and doing yoga in the vacant space of nice on him. lifestyle came after he shared his a mirror next to it. Qiao does paragliding in her home last year, her audience, Contact the writer at In her closet, only a few clothes Turkey in 2016. who thought of her as a minimalist, [email protected] New Year film offers message of hope and courage

By FANG AIQING Nian eats children for food. doing on the ground. [email protected] Having developed a close bond, Wang says it’s the first time she Ating calls the beast “Anian” as a has worked on a commercial, and The latest work of Lulu Wang, nickname — the actual name of the the price and convenience of smart­ Chinese­American director of the film in Chinese. phones enables more amateurs to Golden Globe­nominated film The While set in a mountainous village accomplish their own work. Farewell, may surprise audiences somewhere in China, the short film “My advice is to collaborate with with not just its content, but also its explores a universal dilemma: How people around you that are passion­ production format. do parents balance the encourage­ ate about what you are doing and Footage for the short film, Nian, ment of their children’s curiosity replicate what people do on profes­ made to celebrate Lunar New Year, about the world, and an instinctive Lulu Wang’s film, Nian, features sional sets,” she says. was captured using just an iPhone desire to protect their offspring from the beast that, according to leg­ One example, she points out, is to 12 Pro Max. harm? end, is scared off from attacking attach the phone to a wheelchair Wang hopes that the fantastical After the 37­year­old director’s villagers by Lunar New Year and push it, just like they did to tale brings people hope and courage film The Farewell hit the screen, it celebration fireworks. shoot a close­up of the Nian rolling in facing the unknowns of the was often suggested to Wang’s par­ PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY around on the hillside. upcoming new year as much of the ents that they must be very proud It’s the fourth year that Apple has world still grapples with the COVID­ and happy upon seeing their daugh­ created a short film to celebrate 19 pandemic, she says in a video ter’s success. Based in Los Angeles, Wang and Lunar New Year. Previously it has interview with China Daily. However, Wang’s mother told her her director of photography, Anna cooperated with directors Peter The film tells a tale about the Nian, that it was like seeing her climbing a Franquesa Solano, had to work Chan and Jia Zhangke, and actress a mythical beast that is purported to ladder. The higher Wang gets, the remotely with the shooting team in Zhou Xun. live in the mountains and, at Spring more scared the mother becomes, Southwest China’s Guizhou province. Lin Jiashu, an advertising direct­ Festival, would stalk humans in near­ because it would get harder to She created as immersive a space or and vlogger, says the use of ancil­ by villages. Ancient Chinese legend ascend to new heights, and the as possible so that it felt like they lary devices in the four celebration has it that people invented firecrack­ daughter could fall in the process. were on set. By putting a “witness movies is decreasing year by year, ers to scare the beast off. Wang says that she always camera” and setting up a projector and the phone’s flexibility has made However, the movie sees a little remembers her mother telling her against the wall, they were not only some complicated operations that girl, Ating, become friends and keep that and has attempted to connect able to see the entire set, but also were once the preserve of profes­ in touch with the Nian, despite her her own experience with what the get a live feed of what they were sional equipment much more acces­ parents’ constant warnings that the film tries to convey. filming and what everyone was sible to the public.