Behind millions of dots, stories of longing

For Chen Yuan and her husband Li Chun, both 33, leaving Beijing presented the opportunity of a change in lifestyle and the chance to pursue one of their passions: protecting old buildings.

In October 2014 they had travelled to Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region, and were smitten, so they decided to quit their jobs and open a hostel there.

Ten months ago the couple settled down in Lhasa and have turned a 100-year-old two-floor Tibetan-style residence into a hostel, something they spent all of their savings of 500,000 yuan ($76,000) on.

"It's our way of trying to revive and preserve traditional Chinese architecture," Chen says. "Our eventual aim is to open a chain of such hostels."

Before that, she headed a charity foundation and her husband was an architect in a State-owned design institute.

Like many other big-city dwellers, part of their work routine involved cramming into a subway carriage twice a day, and eating consisted of little more than snatching a quick bite in a spare moment because of overtime and the pressures of work.

"We are still very busy, especially when the hostel has a lot of guests, but the much slower pace here means you can think and enjoy your life," Chen says, something that Li says is not possible in Beijing.

They get up early in the morning to clean their yard and guest rooms and have breakfast in the sun. They can now read books, play with their four kittens, drink tea and enjoy playing the stringed instrument, the guqin.

Even if their work in Beijing kept them busy they say they appreciated the ability there to go to museums, art galleries and to enjoy live rock music. However, rapid urbanization is taking a toll, and the city is losing its cultural atmosphere as old buildings are demolished, Chen and Li say.

"Lhasa is large but a lot less populous and we are enjoying a peaceful life here," Li says. "Here our dreams are beginning to blossom. Beijing is like a large stage on which all the performers wear heavy make-up. Lhasa is like home, and we can be who we really are."

Nevertheless, neither Li nor Chen is claiming that Lhasa is Nirvana.

"It's not easy to work in the service industry," Chen says. "Whether you live in a big city or a small city is irrelevant. What you dream depends on what is in your heart, not where you live. The first thing to do is to figure out what your dream is."