A Chinese man has taken his desire for a quiet life to the extreme by living as a hermit in a cave for the past 20 years.
Feng Mingshan, 54, has to climb a 50 metre vertical cliff to reach the entrance of his unusual home where he has even fashioned a front door and hung curtains.
Feng moved out of Gaoba Town, in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, in 1993 because he did not want to be around other people.
Now he lives in virtual isolation and has eschewed almost every modern convenience – even clothes.
Pictures show the hermit climbing nude in and out of cave carrying bundles of sticks.
Feng’s brother Feng Xueming said: ‘My brother has a weird personality. He doesn’t like to communicate with others.’
Over the past 20 years he has worked at enlarging the interior of his cave and has also chiselled handholds on the rock outside to help him climb up the steep rocks.
Local media reported that Feng originally found the cave when he was just a boy.
‘It was a small cave when I found it, and I expanded it to its current size using a hammer’, he was quoted by The Mirror as saying.
He added: ‘I also cleared the path through the ravine. Summer is cool here and it’s good.’
Residents in nearby villages said he normally leaves the cave at night but can still make the steep ascent with ease.
But while locals are impressed with his climbing and foraging skills, authorities want to put him into a nursing home.
He was reportedly diagnosed with intermittent psychosis and did receive a brief course of treatment.
Town mayor Xu Min was quoted by The Mirror as saying they are continuing to monitor Feng and will try to persuade him to live in a more conventional home.