Rural China Book of the Month (February 2025): The Mountains Are High by Alec Ash

A year of escape and discovery in rural China

To escape isn’t just to leave—it’s to trade certainty for the unknown, speed for stillness, noise for silence. In The Mountains Are High, Alec Ash does just that, stepping out of China’s glass-and-steel future into a world of courtyard homes, alternative communities, and a landscape shaped by those who have chosen to reject the urban grind. This isn’t another detached study of rural China, nor is it an attempt to channel an ‘authentic’ local voice. Instead, it’s a foreigner’s firsthand account of abandoning the city for a semi-rural enclave known for its appeal to countercultural city transplants, artists, and seekers of a different life. It’s an honest, outsider’s perspective that resonates with anyone who has ever felt drawn to life on the fringes.

The Premise: Leaving the Urban for the Alternative Rural

Ash, a longtime China-based journalist, uproots himself from the metropolis and embeds himself in a quiet yet increasingly popular area filled with artists, expats, and urban refugees looking for a slower life. What emerges is a deeply personal account of a foreigner attempting to understand—if not fully belong to—a world that exists on the fringes of mainstream China, shaped by both tradition and the influx of newcomers seeking reinvention.

Unlike the dominant narrative of China’s rise, which fixates on economic growth and political power, The Mountains Are High pulls us into a different reality—one where city-born escapees attempt to craft new lives in places where time moves differently, modernity and nostalgia coexist, and the question of belonging is never fully settled.

Why This Book Matters

At a time when China is often viewed through the lens of geopolitics or economic analysis, The Mountains Are High offers something different: a human-scale exploration of the subcultures emerging in one of China’s most famous rural retreats. The book is a must-read for those interested in:

• The phenomenon of reverse migration from city to country

• The creation of alternative communities within China’s semi-rural enclaves

• The tension between tourism, authenticity, and long-term settlement

• The philosophy of slow, deliberate living in contrast to the urban rush

• The role of personal immersion in understanding another culture

About the Author

Alec Ash is a British writer who has spent years documenting China’s evolving landscape. His previous work, Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China, focused on urban youth navigating the pressures of modern Chinese society. In The Mountains Are High, Ash turns his attention to a different demographic—those who leave the cities in search of a slower, alternative life and the ways in which their presence reshapes rural spaces.

An Invitation to See Beyond the Cities

The Mountains Are High is not just about China—it is about the experience of escape, of stepping outside one’s element and engaging with a world that offers both refuge and contradiction. It asks readers to question their own relationship with place, pace, and belonging.

For anyone seeking to understand the enclaves of alternative living within China’s countryside—or simply craving a story about the raw, unpredictable nature of life beyond the city—this book is an essential read.

Rural China Book of the Month - The Master List:

• December 2024: Pang, Xiaowei. Farmer: Photographic Portraits. 18 March 2023.

• January 2025: Ang, Yuen Yuen. China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption. 9 July 2020.

• February 2025: Ash, Alec. The Mountains Are High: A Year of Escape and Discovery in China’s Rural Enclaves. 2024.