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He Huifeng

Chris Luo

A narrow cave on a desolate mountain can hardly be called home sweet home.
But it’s just that for a Chinese migrant worker who has sacrificed comfort and decent lodgings to be able to save enough money for his family.
Shi Zhiyong, 35, who works as a stevedore for a transport company in China’s coastal Shandong province, said he stumbled upon the craggy cave, about 10 metres long, in Jinan while hiking in the mountains.
Photos of the cave show its mouth leading to a hollow with low, jutting rocks overhead. He decided to start sleeping in the cave six months ago, according to China News Service.
Rather than pay up to 200 yuan (HK$250) a month for rent – which took the biggest chunk of his earnings – Shi decided to save every penny he could from his 3,000 yuan monthly salary to send back home to his family in Handan, Hebei province.
“I have two children, aged 11 and six. I have to save up money and support the family,” he told the news outlet.
His sacrifice has enabled Shi to send his wife and children nearly his entire income.
However, Shi said he did not dare tell his family that he was living in a cave. “I told my family I lived in the company’s dormitory,” he said.
Shi sleeps on bedding spread on the floor, lighting kindling fires for warmth. He has few belongings with him: a radio, a quilt, a flashlight, a water bottle and some clothes.
Shi packs all these with him and carries them to work each day.
He started carrying his belonging with him after discovering villagers had been entering the cave and looking through his things. “When I come back from work at night, often the cave had been explored top to bottom by others,” he told the Jinan Times.
Shi eats at the company’s cafeteria during working hours. When there is no work, he subsists on a couple of sesame seed cakes.
He showers just once a month at a local public bathroom, the report said.
Shi is not the only Chinese worker who has gone to extremes to scrimp on rent in order to give more money to his family.
In 2013, a Beijing resident made national headlines when it was discovered he’d been living in the underground sewers for 10 years.
By doing this, the man, who washed cars during the day, managed to pay his children’s tuition on a meagre income.
Sympathetic about the man’s plight, a Beijing university later offered him a position in the school’s logistics department, under which he was eligible to stay in a dormitory room.


Chinese worker lives in a cave so he can send rent money home to his family

The super-frugal migrant worker from Hebei province keeps only a radio, a quilt and some clothes in his cave in Jinan. Photos: China News Service

Shi Zhiyong stands inside the cave.  

Some of Shi Zhiyong's belongings.  

Shi stumbled upon the craggy cave in Jinan while hiking on the mountain.  

News

China Insider

Father happy to live simply for the sake of his two young boys 


A narrow cave on a desolate mountain can hardly be called home sweet home. But it’s just that for a Chinese migrant worker who has sacrificed comfort to be able to save for his family.
