In the past decade, thousands of young people like Zhang have come to the Zhongnan Mountains hoping to connect with around 600 modern-day hermits, or yinshi, according to estimates by Zhongnan Cottage, a local civic organization. Zhang now spends his days learning pottery and reading e-books on a smartphone with no internet connectivity. Within three months of moving to the temple, the light, vegetable-rich diet flattened his belly and his introverted personality found an outlet, he claims. There, he met a hermitlike Taoist adept - “a soft speaker and a great listener,” Zhang says - and decided to stay for good.
Last year, feeling jaded by city life and experiencing heart and weight problems, the nature-loving former salesman came to seek solace at Beiji Temple. “On rainy days, mud falls from the ceiling,” says Zhang Shiquan, one of the three Taoist devotees currently residing at the temple. Beiji Temple was constructed during the Ming dynasty, but most of the original temple was destroyed during the violence of the Cultural Revolution and only the main hall remains today, its tiled rooftop covered with weeds. The building has clearly seen better days. SHAANXI, Northwest China - On a misty winter’s afternoon, about an hour’s drive from the ancient city of Xi’an and a muddy 30-minute trek through the Zhongnan Mountains, we finally reach the secluded Beiji Temple.
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