That is Tom Jia. He’s a 28-year-old life-style influencer who calls himself a — Tangping, or “mendacity flat:” It’s a fast-growing life-style, rejecting social pressures to overwork and pursue materials success. In China, younger folks face intense stress to work grueling hours, purchase a home and get married. Some are quietly rebelling and selecting to do the naked minimal, dwelling a low-income, low-desire life away from the large cities. Tom’s function: making movies to show them how and the place to reside an reasonably priced, stress-free life. Earlier than, Tom grew to become a “mendacity flat” influencer with 400,000 followers, he was considered one of many younger folks feeling burned out by the large metropolis grind. Tom was dwelling in Shenzhen, some of the costly cities in China. In 2023, Tom give up his job, purchased an R.V. and got down to scout China’s finest cities for “mendacity flat.” He has turned this firsthand analysis right into a video sequence and a spreadsheet that now consists of over 100 cities. On this video, he’s introducing the fourth version of this “mendacity flat” metropolis information. Every place Tom visits, he talks to residents, excursions residences and movies the completely different neighborhoods. After that, he charges every metropolis utilizing a dozen completely different standards, like public transit, affordability and the way a lot nature you might have entry to. After China’s housing market went bust in 2021, the nation entered into a chronic financial downturn. That’s a giant a part of why “mendacity flat” grew to become extra in style. The collapse of the housing market left smaller cities like this one with a glut of empty residences, making housing comparatively low-cost. At the moment, Tom is exploring this city, Haikou, on the request of his followers. Between streaming income and viewer donations, Tom’s “mendacity flat” influencer work now pays for about half of his month-to-month bills. Tom’s new residence, within the metropolis of Kunming, features a view of the mountains and prices a fifth of what he used to pay in Shenzhen.
