Young workers cast off big-city shackles

Digital nomads broaden their job opportunities

An increasing number of young people in large Chinese cities are choosing to become so-called digital nomads in the hope of striking a better work-life balance by operating remotely.

Using smartphones and computers, digital nomads typically have no fixed business address and often work in various cities and countries. They operate from coffee shops, public libraries and shared office spaces, with some even working from recreational vehicles.

Zhang Le, 37, a former oil engineer from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, had long wanted to become a digital nomad after reading The 4-Hour Workweek by entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss in 2009. The opportunity to change his career came in 2015, when Zhang launched a content creation venture.

When COVID-19 emerged in 2020, Zhang visited several Latin American countries and also lived in Turkiye for a year.

"The biggest advantages I have gained from being a digital nomad are geographical freedom and gradually discovering the meaning of life by abandoning the traditional work-life balance to pursue jobs that I want to do," said Zhang, who graduated from the University of Alberta in Canada, where he studied petroleum geoscience.

In 2015, he began publishing articles about digital nomads on his website and on WeChat.

Zhang now operates Digital Nomad Tribe, or DNT, a content brand/paid community themed around the digital nomad lifestyle. DNT, which boasts more than 1,500 paying members, is the largest and longest-running community of its kind in China.

"In modern society, people tend to define everything through their work mentality. They introduce themselves through job descriptions, judge social status based on a person's occupation, and compromise lifestyle choices to fit their careers," said Zhang, who worked remotely and traveled to 30 countries in the past eight years.

"However, digital nomadism is all about moving away from the mindset that our careers should define our lifestyles."

Zhang's daily work schedule is not strictly defined, but mainly involves reading, collecting and sharing information related to digital nomads. He also conducts field visits to digital nomad destinations, writes reports about his experiences, shares book notes, interacts with community members, and answers related questions.

As a digital nomad, Zhang doesn't need to waste time commuting, but he makes better use of his money to escape overcrowded urban areas for more scenic, cost-effective locations. He also has more time to spend with family and friends, and to pursue personal interests.

"I believe that the main premise of the digital nomad lifestyle is a deep reflection of contemporary work culture. Many young people are choosing to reassess the meaning of their existence before they reach middle age by taking control of their lives," said Zhang, who plans to continue exploring his interests and discovering new places without returning to full-time work.

In October, the 2022 Employment Relationship Trend Report published jointly by the National Development Research Institute at Peking University and the human resources website Zhaopin.com showed that just over 76 percent of the post-00s generation were willing to become digital nomads.

Yu Hai, a sociology professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said: "By embracing this lifestyle, people are seeking to escape the traditional office environment to enjoy more flexibility and freedom in their professional lives. As this trend continues to gain traction, it is poised to have a significant impact on China's job market and economy."

The term "digital nomad" was first coined in 1997 by Jiro Makino, the former CEO of Hitachi, who predicted that advances in network communication technology would free people from working in a specific geographic location.

Makino said thousands of people would become modern-day nomads, migrating from place to place, and living and working on the move, as their ancestors did.

This vision has become a reality, with the digital nomad organization DNX Global estimating that by 2035, 1 billion people worldwide will have adopted such a lifestyle.

The 2021 Digital Nomad Report released by independent workforce management platform MBO Partners showed the number of digital nomads in the United States rose from 7.3 million in 2019 to 11.5 million in 2021. They work in fields such as information technology, creative services, education and training, consulting, research, sales and marketing, public relations, finance and accounting, among others.

These fields can be partially or entirely accessed remotely.

Top talent

In March last year, Xia Mengren, 29, quit her job at an internet company in Shanghai and traveled to Dali, Yunnan province, where she contacted the digital nomad community. During her four-month stay, she lived the life of a digital nomad — working while traveling, and enjoying both experiences. After returning to work in Shanghai for three months, she decided to resign again and go to Bali, Indonesia, one of the world's top destinations for digital nomads.

"Top talent from different countries and industries comes to Bali. I want to become mixed-blooded culturally by living in different countries with different languages and lifestyles," said Xia, who worked as operations supervisor at an internet company in Shanghai for six years.

Xia can work from anywhere as long as she has a computer. She can operate while watching the sunset on a beach, while enjoying delicious food, or even when brainstorming work ideas in the jungle.

"The biggest benefit of being a digital nomad is discovering how big the world really is. I feel that my life has now become more diverse, and my horizons have expanded. Life is not just about working, it's a multi-faceted process," Xia said.

She has extensive work expertise. As a blogger, Xia regularly produces content and has taken courses on career development. She also offers paid-for career advice services and provides information technology planning services.

Xia is working with friends to establish an export marketing agency, and also has a keen interest in artificial intelligence.

"Being a digital nomad gives me access to the most advanced lifestyles around the world while enjoying the benefits of China's booming internet economy, as I am earning money from China and spending it in Indonesia," Xia said.

She plans to travel to Europe, where more nations are offering visas to allow non-European Union citizens to temporarily live in a country while working for foreign companies.

The MBO Partners report also showed that one-fifth of digital nomads polled reported an annual income of less than $25,000. However, 44 percent said they earned $75,000 or more.

Pan Shiyu, 31, and her husband Ding Feng, 33, who worked in high-pressure jobs in Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, for several years, never intended to become digital nomads.

"We planned to travel north to south by camper van along the Pan-American Highway from Mexico to Argentina and record our journey on videos," said Pan, who worked for a leading marketing consultancy in China for three years and is now a classical yoga teacher and freelance writer.

In October 2019, the couple flew to Los Angeles, before heading to Guadalajara, the second-largest city in Mexico. They spent 18 months living and traveling in Mexico.

In three and a half years, they traveled to eight countries, experiencing life in a camper van, community living, art residencies, and becoming digital nomads in cities. They spent four months in Peru before finally settling in Bali in December.

"We wanted to explore new possibilities and find a more fulfilling lifestyle. Our biggest motivation was to escape the fast-paced, atomized lifestyle of big cities and seek closer, more intimate relationships in indigenous cultures," said Pan, who met Ding 15 years ago during a long-distance road trip.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple's plan to travel from Mexico to the southern tip of Argentina by camper van was put on hold. Stuck in Mexico, they looked for online job opportunities to earn a living and continue their travels once the pandemic subsided.

Ding began searching for freelance design projects on platforms he had used before, while Pan started learning video editing and sought freelance writing opportunities. She eventually became a writer for Lonely Planet magazine.

By the latter half of 2021, the couple's social media account was generating a steady income, and last year they launched a paid-for knowledge-sharing platform.

"Being a digital nomad enables you to choose different places to live — offering significant advantages for improving and enriching your quality of life," Pan said.

"However, due to a lack of stable income, digital nomads may find it difficult to form deep, long-lasting friendships, especially those who are single."

Pan and Ding continue to live as digital nomads. Their daily routine includes meditation, exercise, work and traveling by motorcycle. They planned to leave Bali at the end of last month to visit various destinations.

"Our ideal lifestyle is to have one or two homes, preferably in natural environments, where we can gain a sense of community, be surrounded by like-minded friends, have the freedom to travel at any time, learn, teach, visit friends, and pursue other goals free of time constraints," Pan said.

Market consultancy Gartner found that 31 percent of the world's workforce was working remotely by the end of last year, either full- or part-time. Some 53 percent of these workers were in the US and 28 percent were in China.

More co-working spaces are starting to appear in rural areas of China, partly because of improved internet connectivity. As of June, 28 percent of the nation's internet users lived in rural areas, data from the China Internet Network Information Centre show.

Dali has long been known as a backpackers' paradise, with its Old Town now a meeting point for digital nomads.

About a 10-minute walk from Old Town is Dali Hub, a three-story building in a quiet street that offers digital nomads co-working spaces, accommodations and rooftop mountain views. There is a similar hub in Anji, Zhejiang, which provides co-working spaces and creative areas for digital nomads who want to live in harmony with nearby tea producers.

Community vibe

Chen Zhaoqing, 29, who has lived in more than 30 countries over the past seven years, opted for Dali as her latest place of residence in 2020. She became a digital nomad in 2016 just after she graduated from Beijing Technology and Business University, where she studied art and design.

"I have stayed in Dali for some time due to its community vibe, which is mainly centered on the internet. It feels as if many small tribes are scattered throughout this small town," Chen said.

During her travels, she has encountered many foreigners living as digital nomads, a lifestyle she had never heard of before.

"Instead of opting for a traditional job, I became a digital nomad to pursue my curiosity about the world and earn money while traveling after graduation," said Chen, who left for Thailand, her first destination, with only 20,000 yuan ($2,910).

In 2017, she began offering travel planning services for destinations such as Thailand, India and Nepal. The following year, Chen traveled around Latin America and studied Spanish at a university in Guanajuato, Mexico.

In 2019, she traveled throughout East Africa, joined TODO, a Chinese brand that customizes and sells ukuleles, and also launched a music travel sharing program while journeying around China.

"The best thing for me is the ability to think and act independently. Unlike some digital nomads who researched the lifestyle and planned their career paths beforehand, I had to develop a business model tailored for myself in uncharted territory," Chen said.

After TODO was launched, Chen went eight months without any income until 2020, when the brand's monthly earnings rose tenfold within a month — exceeding 300,000 yuan at one point.

Chen now spends one to two hours a day on routine work, an hour on music creation, and an hour on sports exercise, with the rest of her time free. If she goes filming or takes part in exhibitions, she works throughout the day.

"Although a digital nomad's income is unstable, I accept the uncertainty of the world as a traveler, and I have learned to cope with such uncertainty over the years," Chen said.

She added that those best-suited to the digital nomad lifestyle have good technical skills, the ability to integrate resources, a strong sense of self-awareness, and a reluctance to live a monotonous existence.

China has implemented a rural revitalization strategy, and information technology now provides support for digital nomads. In the post-pandemic era, decentralized work models are gradually emerging to support growth of the digital nomad community.

Yu, the sociology professor, said: "There may well be a significant rise in the number of digital nomads in China in the short term. However, in the long term, the digital nomad community is likely to continue existing as a niche group."

The digital nomad lifestyle might not become mainstream in China, but would continue to be a viable option for individuals, Yu added.

Digital nomads Ding Feng and his wife Pan Shiyu work away from offices, taking on freelance video editing, writing assignments and design projects. [China Daily]

Clockwise from left: Xia Mengren (center) lives in Bali, Indonesia, and takes on work assignments from China; Zhang Le (bottom) operates Digital Nomad Tribe, a content brand/paid community themed around the digital nomad lifestyle; Chen Zhaoqing (right) is a digital nomad in Dali, Yunnan province. [China Daily]