Zhang Baoyi, who now goes by his Taoist name Zhang Liyi, sits in meditation in a grotto in Wangwu Mountain. Photo: CFP

A grotto with a bed made of rocks, several ropes to hang his clothes and a candle to light up the darkness: this is the residence of Zhang Baoyi, a Taoist monk in Wangwu Mountain, about 35 kilometers west of Jiyuan city in Henan Province.

After his business failed a year ago, Zhang, a former businessman hailing from Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, converted to Taoism and moved to Wangwu. After living in the grotto, a sacred place for Taoist practice, for two weeks, he moved into a temple and now spends his day sitting in meditation, reading Taoist classics, cleaning alters and practicing calligraphy.

During China's rapid economic expansion, the country has also seen the number of hermits rising rapidly, with more and more people questioning materialist values and retreating from cities.

Zhang is one of the 40 or so Taoist hermits who live in Wangwu Mountain. It's a mystery when Taoism first spread to this mountain, but it has been often associated with legends and folktales. Its main peak, the Celestial Altar, at an altitude of 1,715 meters, is allegedly the place where the Chinese ancestor Yellow Emperor established altars to worship Heaven. A famous Chinese legend about a man who moved mountains is set in Wangwu. During the Han and Wei dynasties, the mountain was one of the most prominent in Taoism, famous for its grottos, and attracted many poets as visitors.

Apart from Zhang, there is Shen Lixing, who used to be a taxi driver from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. Now she lives in a simple room in a Taoist temple in the mountain.

Shen described herself before her conversion as being "selfish, bad-tempered and greedy." Now, she said her life is simple and unpretentious. Over the years, the urban dweller has learnt how to chop firewood and grow vegetables.

While their life may be primitive, the Internet gives them access to the outside world. Both hermits say they read news online on a daily basis.

Global Times

Zhang cooks with an iron cooker outside his grotto. Photo: CFP
 

For Shen Lixing, the first thing in the morning is to burn incense on the alter. Photo: CFP

A Taoist friend brings Shen a sack of rice outside her temple. Photo: CFP

Shen Lixing checks her mobile phone in her room. Photo: CFP