Number of 'digital nomads'rises after COVID-19 layoff

Months of working remotely have prompted many young people to hit the road with only a laptop for company. Yan Dongjie reports from Anji county, Zhejiang.

Pan Guanghao only needs his laptops and Wi-Fi for work, so he bought a refitted van and now lives in it, driving and working anywhere he can connect to the internet. That makes him a typical digital nomad.

He used to work in imposing buildings in Auckland, New Zealand, and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, but now he sets up his laptops in front of fields and a pond and works in the sunshine as the day begins.

The name "digital nomad" refers to people who live a nomadic lifestyle and work via the internet. They don't have to be physically present in an office, so they exploit "geographical arbitrage" — taking advantage of differences in prices between various places — to live in cities with better environments but lower living costs while earning a salary from a company in a tier-one location.

The number of digital nomads has been growing in China as the pressures of big-city living have grown, such as expensive housing, long working hours and too much neijuan, one of the hottest words used online, meaning unnecessary excessive peer competition. The rise in numbers accelerated during the COVID-19 epidemic as many people had to work remotely.

Pan works as a programming engineer for Mega, a cloud drive company in New Zealand. However, he was marooned in China after he returned for a vacation in 2020 and couldn't return to Auckland because of quarantine regulations. A similar situation affected some of his colleagues from countries such as the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. In response, he started working remotely.

That suited his wishes as he doesn't like high-rises in big cities. In 2021, he bought a secondhand recreational vehicle in Dali, Yunnan province, and drove it to Wenzhou, Zhejiang, his hometown.

"I bought an apartment in Hangzhou at peak price, because I wanted to give my then-girlfriend a home to provide stability," Pan said. "The mortgage was a big burden, so I had to work overtime to pay it off as quickly as possible, but it didn't lead to stability."

People with loans are afraid of uncertainty. Any change can be a threat to monthly repayments. Many young people in China face the same pressure, which is why Pan left the city. Despite living in the RV, Pan doesn't feel he's drifting. Instead, he feels in unprecedented control of his life. "Too many changes happen in the world now. But whatever changes, the basic ways of living won't be altered. I feel secure in this lifestyle," he said.

Service centers

As the number of digital nomads in China grows, related service centers and communities have started to appear. Dali has long been popular with remote workers for its environment and scenery. Hegang, Heilongjiang province, was hot for a while about two years ago thanks to its low housing prices. A one-bedroom apartment sells for about 100,000 yuan ($14,500), close to the price of 1 square meter in Beijing. However, Zhejiang's Anji county, close to Pan's hometown, has become popular thanks to the construction of a community designed for digital nomads.

"The problems come when someone stays alone too long: that's the time when you want to join a community and make some social connections," Pan said.

He arrived at the Anji Creative Design Center in Xilong village, Huzhou, Zhejiang, on April 5 and decided to stay after he met young people from different cities. They work various jobs, including designers, photographers, bloggers and programmers, and some work in the financial field.

"They are fun. When somebody comes to talk with me after a long day's work buried in my screens, I love to chat and share their experiences," Pan said.

The temporary residents host a range of activities such as idea-sharing spaces, barbecues, gym classes, board games and art fairs. People who attend can sell their artwork, talk and exchange stories.

According to Digital Nomad Anji, the residential building at the ACDC, 30 percent of those who have lived there have a master's degree, and some have attained financial freedom.

The ACDC and DNA were built in 2021. Nearly 700 digital nomads have stayed at the DNA since its trial opening in December 2021, and about 80 live in the compound now.

Membership and residence fees are low. A container room costs just 1,900 yuan a month, while a bed in a multiple-person shared room costs less than 800 yuan a month. By contrast, a bedroom in downtown Shanghai can reach 4,000 yuan.

"I have this metaphor: this place is the center of a circle. We come here and become friends, then after staying for a while we separate to travel elsewhere. But DNA is still a second home, where we reunite sometimes," said Chen Qincong, one of the first applicants for the trial opening.

Work-life balance

Chen co-founded Pinewood Bus, a vehicle refitting company, after she quit e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2017. Her partner used to work for Ikea and Volvo. "We both worked for giant companies, or dachang as we call them in China. But when we were approaching 30, we could see where we were going, but that wasn't what we truly wanted in life," Chen said. "When you want to make a change, do it while you are young."

Instead of staying in the office till midnight and dealing with endless requests from bosses, Chen and her partner, Lin Han, chose to combine work and life and hit the road. They've lived in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, as well as Dali, mainly in their RV.

"Being a digital nomad doesn't mean you are playing around. Instead, you can be busier and have to work on weekends sometimes. On the other hand, you have the freedom to do your own thing on any work day for other people," Chen said.

They support each other's travel plans. The one who is traveling does the work that can be done online — for example, purchasing and design, communicating with clients, etc — while the other takes care of their base and the workers.

"We have been exploring a new way for life. Now, after years of adjusting we have found one we like: having control of our own time and a small business with an income that doesn't have to be huge, and some like-minded friends," Chen said.

The DNA can only accommodate 80 people, and applications have already piled up for next year. The facility's second phase, 35 more containers, will be installed soon, so about 70 more people will be able to live there.

Although the ACDC is the most popular and biggest compound for digital nomads, the community is still small compared with those in Western countries.

According to statistics released in December by nomadlist, a website for digital nomads, there are 35 million digital nomads around the world, and one-third come from the United States. The most popular cities are Lisbon in Portugal, Bali in Indonesia, Bangkok in Thailand and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Nearly half the nomads are in their 30s.

The website shows that its members work remotely for companies such as Apple, Google and Airbnb. They meet, share information about visas and remote jobs, and have developed their own dating app and insurance.

A select lifestyle

The word most DNA residents use to describe their life is "freedom", followed by "independence", "relaxed" and "happy". Some digital nomads have mentioned loneliness, too, and other issues under the surface.

"I met this 27-year-old girl who used to be a livestreamer. In her WeChat moments, she said that her period only returned to normal three months after she quit and drifted to Bangkok," said Xie Xuelin, who has been a digital nomad since she left Beijing seven years ago.

She has traveled and lived in cities such as Dali, Shanghai, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Hangzhou, Langkawi in Malaysia, and Bangkok and Chiang Mai in Thailand.

She works at shared offices or coffee shops when she gets an assignment. She usually wakes up at about 8:30 am, works and then cooks noodles with vegetables for dinner at about 6 pm. She tries to be in bed by midnight.

"Self-discipline is important because it helps people establish a sense of order, and a disrupted schedule often means losing control," she said. "This kind of life isn't for everyone, and few people can endure being alone for long. Some people eventually quit and start looking for work again. You need to be strong to be a digital nomad."

For example, Zhang Na vowed to be a blogger after quitting his job in Beijing, but ended up staying in bed till noon and living off his parents for months in his Jilin province hometown. He had plans to go to the gym, eat healthily and lose weight, but things seem to have gone the opposite way.

In addition to self-discipline, the ability to deal with loneliness is important.

"We travel a lot, so we meet too many new people. We introduce ourselves, talk about things such as 'how's the weather?' 'where are you from?' and 'what do you do?' but deeper communication is hard," said a digital nomad surnamed Li. "After several months, I feel a strong need to embrace 'more concrete' people. Those nomads who are doing well are mostly in a similar situation — they have skills to make money, can earn a good, steady income and have a steady partner but no children."

Children's education and parents' need for senior care can also be reasons for travelers to return to cities or hometowns.

After living abroad for more than four months, Xie plans to return to her family and friends soon. "Even though I enjoy the freedom, I must admit that love, companionship and living safely in a city I know and love, even for a while, is deeply ingrained in everyone's heart," she said.

Zhang Dandan contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at yandongjie@chinadaily.com.cn