The simple life

Gain beyond pain

A windfall of Yang's change of lifestyle came after he shared his experiences online.

Publication houses approached him and helped him publish two books in 2017 and 2019.

Yang's followers started to grow.

To date, he has accrued about 1 million fans on various social media platforms, including Douban, WeChat and Douyin, which has enabled him to start a business as a minimalism consultant.

He also holds a monthly Spartan life training session.

"Most of us have found that problems can be easily spotted and dealt with, when things are simplified," Yang says.

"People are giving me positive feedback and, when I find out that I've helped improve their life, or their family relationships, it empowers me to keep doing what I do."

As far as Yang's understanding of a Spartan life or minimalism goes, he says it should boil down to personal choice.

"Most people can only stick to it if they feel the benefits," he says.

Yang is part of an increasing number adopting an accumulation-averse lifestyle. They have trimmed personal items to a minimum, and thrown away or donated unwanted things.

For necessities, they choose the best within their budget and make full use of them.

From spender to saver

In North China's Hebei province, Qiao Sang has carried on her abstinent lifestyle for more than two months.

The young woman, born in the 1990s, began out of curiosity and has fully fallen for it.

Her home has since been reduced to six pieces of furniture, including a dining table with a chair, a sofa and a mirror next to it.

In her closet, only a few clothes are left hanging, which was a far cry from her past life.

"I used to buy clothes in bulk," Qiao says.

Since college, Qiao had indulged her urge to shop with her ability to make money through part-time jobs.

She acted as a tour guide for expats in Beijing over the weekends, which gave her 3,000-4,000 yuan ($465-620) a month. "The easy money encouraged my desire for buying," Qiao says.

She spent what she earned and continued this way of living after she graduated from college and got a job in a travel agency.

In her craziest shopping moments, she would buy several hats of the same style, just in different colors.

"I could buy the things I wanted, because money spent could always be made back," she says.

She didn't realize the burden of her years of consumerism until she was about to move into her newly-purchased apartment, with a floor space of about 90 square meters, in Shijiazhuang, provincial capital of Hebei, in 2019.

"My home was designed with no storage space," Qiao says.

It forced her to take stock of her belongings.

That was when she found that many of her 200 items of clothing and 40 pairs of shoes had barely been touched over the years.

So, she gave most away and only kept those she wears often.

"Life suddenly became easy and convenient," Qiao says, adding that she no longer has to waste time worrying about what to wear.