Gao Rongrong shares Wang's views.

The 26-year-old moved to Jixia village in Pingnan to volunteer as an English teacher at a local primary school in 2015, a year after her graduation from Shanghai Maritime University.

"When I was a freelance interpreter in Shanghai, I found myself wasting a lot of time commuting on the subway," says the Zhejiang native. "The sense of exhaustion nagged away at me every day when I returned to the small room I rented."

She adds: "I thought of having enough time to do something I adored was too much to hope for－until I came here."

When she isn't teaching, Gao uses her spare time to study French and Japanese, read books and learn more about digital art.

"I make full use of my time in the village and have sharpened up my drawing skills," she says. "I love comics."

She is currently working on a series of cartoons where her characters appear in photos of the nearby villages. She plans to earn her living through comics in the future.

"I've been enlightened here," Gao says. "I know who I am and I've already got the nerve to explore the possibilities of my life."

Contact the writer at [email protected]