What is it like to radically change your life? Writer Alec Ash meets the Chinese who are doing just this, 'reverse migrating' from the cities to the remote countryside of southwest China - and joins them himself, in an extraordinary and inspiring journey of self-discovery.

In 2020, Alec Ash left behind his old life as a journalist in buzzy Beijing, and moved to Dali, a rural valley in China's Yunnan province, centred around a great lake shaped like an ear and overlooked by the Cang mountain range. Here, he hoped to find the space and perspective to mend heartbreak, and escape the trappings of fast-paced, high-pressured city life.

Originally home to the Bai people, Dali has become a richly diverse community of people of all ages and backgrounds, with one shared goal: to reject the worst parts of modernity and live more simply, in tune with the natural world and away from the nexus of authoritarian power. It is into this community that Alec embeds himself, charting his first year of life in Dali among these fascinating neighbours, from political dissidents to bohemian hippies.

The Mountains Are High is a beautifully written, candid memoir about how reevaluating what is really important and taking a leap of faith to reach it can genuinely transform your life. As one of the 'new migrants' tells Alec when he arrives: it is easy to change your environment, far more difficult to change your mind.

About the Author
Alec Ash is a writer and editor focused on China, where he lived from 2008-2022. He is the author of Wish Lanterns (Picador, 2016), literary nonfiction about the lives of six young Chinese people, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His long-form articles have appeared in NYRB, LARB, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and elsewhere, and he was a stringer for The Sunday Times and The Economist. He was previously editor of LARB China Channel, founder of the writers' collective The Anthill, and contributed to two anthologies of literary reportage, Chinese Characters, and While We're Here. Currently he is editor of the China Books Review.

Reviews

'The Mountains Are High is a treasure. Part escapist tale, and part a lesson on the history, culture, and people of enchanted Dali. It's a young man's journey we all yearn for and only dream of taking.'

-- James M. Zimmerman, author of The Peking Express: the bandits who stole a train, stunned the West, and broke the Republic of China

'The Mountains Are High is a fascinating story of modern China, told from the perspective of those trying to escape it. Alec Ash conjures up the paradise of Dali and the colourful characters that live there with an eye for the surreal. A writer of great talent.'

-- Charlie Gilmour, author of Featherhood

'I am deeply impressed that Alec was able to create a new life for himself in this remote corner of rural China where "the mountains are high and the emperor far away," and indeed, to gain a new perspective on life. Beautifully crafted, The Mountains are High was a joy to read.'

-- Lijia Zhang, author of Lotus

'A beautiful, reflective book that probes gently but thoroughly into the depths of both the author's life and China's modern collision with its storied rural past at a time of global upheaval. Ash's year spent communing with a colourful cast of China's believers, burnouts, and internal exiles is by turns elegiac, energising, and uplifting.'

-- Charlie Walker, adventurer and author of Through Sand and Snow and On Roads That Echo

'Beautifully rendered. Equally tender and insightful. Alec Ash deftly weaves personal experiences into a longer history and larger social fabric of the place. The Mountains Are High is not only a loving portrayal of one corner of China, but also an illuminating probe of contemporary society and the meanings of life.'

-- Yangyang Cheng, award-winning writer and research scholar at Yale University

'An immersive, meditative, and constantly surprising search for meaning in a world beset by crisis. It beautifully and limpidly illuminates the extraordinary, eccentric complexity of contemporary China.'

-- Julia Lovell, author of Maoism

'A poetic, intensely personal account of a year-long stay in a town at the edges of China, a place geographically on the margins of the modern country, but one full of memories and meanings that go far beyond the horizon. In this place, Alec moves through his own history and feelings, both towards himself and the country he has lived in for much of three previous decade. China under Xi Jinping is an often epic, overpowering place to make sense of. But this is an account that does that, through engagement with a specific environment, at a specific time, in a way which is humane and sensitive - two qualities desperately lacking in so much work on China today.'

-- Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director, Lau China Institute, King's College London

'A beautiful window into rural China in all its variety, the search for freedom in all its complexity, and what it truly means to begin afresh.'

-- Jade Angeles Fitton, author of Hermit

'A sharply observed and deeply reflective account of a year in rural China. Ash writes with sensitivity and empathy for both people and place, and expertly weaves his own story with that of China's. The Mountains are High is gentle, lyrical, and reminds us that whatever else happens, spring will always follow winter.'

-- Leon McCarron, author of The Road Headed West

'Dali is a miracle. Bucolic climes, a shimmering lake, and agricultural abundance ringed by mountains, which, as Alec Ash nimbly reveals, preserve an enclave of relative liberty in China. Alec is a superb guide to Dali, his revelations rooted in heartfelt appreciation for the valley and its people.'

-- Dan Wang, Yale Law School and Gavekal Dragonomics

'The Mountains Are High is a gorgeously written meditation on seeking freedom in an unfree country. Even if you think you know China, you will be surprised by Alec Ash's exploration of an unlikely community of spiritual seekers, dreamers and dissidents, stoners and dropouts, tucked deep in the mountains of Yunnan Province.'

-- Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy

'An insider account of a retreat from China's relentless urbanism ... Ash offers an alternative view of Chinese rural life which, though often still poor and hardscrabble for many, can also be rewarding, instructive, and even instagammable for those that choose it. A welcome antidote to the constant drum beat of China's 24/7 rush hour, all-pervasive tech and consumption obsession. It seems that for some there is another potential way.'

-- Paul French, author of Bloody Saturday

Praise for Wish Lanterns:

'A gem of a book. Its brief chapters flow like a skilfully crafted set of interconnected short stories, yet all are rooted in the real life experiences of six individuals. An impressive debut book by a writer to watch.'

-- Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China in the 21st Century

Praise for Wish Lanterns:

'A beautiful and thoughtful book ... Alec Ash has succeeded in giving us an intimate and complex portrait of the one child policy generation. It skilfully documents their features, modes of life and dreams of the future. I enthusiastically recommend you to read it.'

-- Xiaolu Guo, author of I Am China

Praise for Wish Lanterns:

'A provocative portrait of a fast-changing society riven by internal contradictions ... a fine addition to the field, one of the best I have read about the individuals who make up a country that is all too often regarded as a monolith, but which abounds with diversity on multiple levels. Fluently written with nice touches of humour ... this books supplies much food for thought, informing the wider debate while retaining its value as a closely observed picture of how some Chinese live today.'

* Financial Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9781914484377
Author Alec Ash
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Scribe Publications
Publisher Scribe Publications
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 24mm