Chinese millennials take up the hermit’s life | Summoning the Recluse

Why some Chinese millennials are taking up the hermit’s life in the mountains.

Director: Ellen Xu (http://www.ellenxu.com/)
Director of Photography: Max Duncan

Watch 'Summoning the Recluse' on Aeon: https://aeon.co/videos/why-some-chine...
Watch more free videos on Aeon: https://aeon.co/videos
Subscribe to the Aeon Video newsletter: https://aeon.us5.list-manage.com/subs...
Follow us on Instagram:   / aeonmag  
Follow us on Facebook:   / aeonmag  
Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aeon.co

Over the past several decades, China has transformed from a largely poor and rural farming nation to a world power with massive economic heft and a rapidly growing urban middle class. While access to the global economy offers the emerging generation of young adults unprecedented access to material goods and a wide range of lifestyles, consumerism has come at a cost for some Chinese millennials who are seeking something beyond money. With a contemplative style that evokes its subject, the Beijing-based filmmaker Ellen Xu’s Summoning the Recluse introduces several young Chinese urbanites who are embarking on spiritual quests. Through a hermit’s lifestyle that draws on Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian traditions – either for a brief respite from modern life, or for the long haul – they focus on studying religion, meditation and connecting with nature, seeking meaning in what they describe as an ‘ancient way of life’.

#taoism #religion #documentary