The last of the Mohicans: a Chinese man has been living alone in a deserted village for 10 years

Could you live as a hermit in a small village, and even in the company of as many as three sheep? It sounds a little unrealistic, but Liu Shengjia has spent the last ten years like this.

Liu is the only resident of the village of Xunshanshe in Gansu province in northeast China.

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More than 20 families used to live here, Liu said, but when natural resources became scarce, they moved to other places, and the remaining old people died.

In 2006, Liu had to take care of his bedridden mother and younger brother alone, but less than a year later, his relatives passed away, and Liu was left in the village all alone.

Left on his own with a small farm of a few sheep, Liu learned to survive on his own and gradually grew accustomed to such seclusion.

“At first, I couldn't sleep at night because of howling wild dogs,” Liu said. “But I looked after my sheep, they became my strange company, and over time I got used to living in such seclusion.”

Liu also sometimes fills in for the forester in the forest range nearby, and this allows him to somehow make ends meet. He earns 700 yuan ($107) a month.

“Surviving here is not a problem for me, but I am still thinking about moving to a more crowded place when the time is right,” he says.

Liu said that despite his loneliness, he also sees the positive aspects of having an entire village at his disposal. For example, he can live in any of the houses, most of which are still full of things left over from the previous owners.