A former Beijing real estate executive quit her high-pressure job for a solitary role on a remote marine farming island. Her story highlights the trade-off between a high salary and personal well-being, freedom, and control over time.
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In a move that has captivated mainland social media, a former corporate executive from China has abandoned her high-pressure city career and relocated to a sparsely populated island, choosing solitude and simplicity over meetings, deadlines, and long commutes.
For nearly 20 years, the woman — known online by a pseudonym — worked in the country's competitive real estate sector, eventually rising to a senior management role in Beijing. Her schedule was relentless. Business trips filled most of the year, and when she was in the capital, hours of daily commuting left her with little personal time.
Although the salary and job title suggested success, she later revealed that the pace of life had left her feeling physically drained and mentally exhausted.
The turning point came during a coastal visit, when she unexpectedly learned about a job opening on a small island used for marine farming. The position offered a modest income and required long periods of isolation — conditions that would discourage most applicants.
For her, however, it represented something she had not experienced in years: space, quiet, and control over her own time.
By the end of 2025, she had resigned from her management post and moved to the island, located far from the mainland and accessible only by boat.
Her new role involves monitoring fish-farming equipment, recording ocean conditions, and ensuring the smooth operation of the facility. Once the daily inspections are complete, the rest of her schedule is entirely her own.
Her lifestyle today is a dramatic contrast to her former routine. Instead of rushing between offices, she spends her evenings watching the sun set over the water.
She reads, cooks simple meals, and occasionally catches crabs or other seafood along the shore. The silence that once might have felt uncomfortable has become, in her words, the most valuable part of her day.
Life on the island is not without hardship. Supplies do not arrive regularly, storms can disrupt basic activities, and the living conditions are far more basic than those she left behind.
Her monthly income is now only a small fraction of what she used to earn. Yet she says the reduction in material comfort has been balanced by a significant improvement in her overall well-being.
Her story has sparked widespread discussion online. Many people admire her courage to step away from a conventional definition of success, while others question whether such a lifestyle can be sustained long term. But for her, the decision was never about proving a point — it was about regaining a sense of ownership over her life.
What makes her experience resonate with so many observers is that it reflects a growing shift in values among professionals who are rethinking the meaning of achievement.
For some, a slower pace, mental clarity, and personal freedom are becoming more important than promotions and pay raises.
On a small island surrounded by open sea, far from the crowded streets and glass towers of the city she once called home, she has built a life that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.
And despite the uncertainty that comes with such a dramatic change, she says she has never felt more certain that she made the right choice.
Source:https://e.vnexpress.net/news/life/trend/chinese-woman-quits-management-job-to-live-alone-on-deserted-island-5039707.html
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