Welcome To Xuenshanshe Village, Population: One

While many people place a premium on having a room of one’s own, a man in China will do you one better. He has an entire village to himself.

As Mashable reports, Liu Shengjia makes up the entire population of Xuenshanshe village in the country’s Gansu province. Since around 2006, Liu has been the only resident. In the years leading up to his isolation, families in the area began to relocate to be closer to natural resources, while others died from old age. Liu meanwhile stayed behind to care for his sick mother and brother. After they died, he remained in Xuenshanshe and moved into one of the village’s abandoned homes. (“It was unoccupied anyway,” Liu told the People’s Daily.) He now tends to sheep and works part-time at a nearby forestry protection station, a job that brings in 700 yuan ($107) a month.

Liu has to travel for food and water, and is miles away from any other inhabitants. While the mountainous region is reportedly not especially hospitable and is prone to difficult winters, Liu told CCTV News he is able to get along pretty well. "Surviving here is not a problem for me, but I still prefer to move to a more populous area when the time comes," he said.

[h/t Mashable]

Banner image via Twitter