Li Yingdi

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In *The Runaways*, journalist Li Yingdi travels across China to document ordinary people who’ve rejected the relentless urban rat race for unorthodox, quieter lives. From 41-year-old Zuo Jie, who traded Wuhan’s corporate应酬 and empty socializing for a mountain cottage in Anhui, to young migrants snapping up dirt-cheap homes in Hegang and Hebi to escape burnout, family pressure, and soul-crushing 9-to-5s, each story lays bare the exhaustion behind mainstream success myths. We follow a former Foxconn worker finding fleeting peace in Hebi, a Shanghai transplant surviving on $5 a day in Hegang’s frozen streets, and a reclusive ex-airplane mechanic hiding in Yanjiao’s tiny apartments, lost in film. The book doesn’t romanticize escape—it reveals messy realities: some find the calm they craved, others drift into new stagnation, and one woman’s search for freedom ends in tragedy. It’s a raw exploration of what happens when we reject society’s default script, asking: Can escape truly set us free?