Digital nomads find home in Shanghai's International Village

As the first batch of 12 digital nomads from home and abroad begin to settle in, the Shanghai Caojing Digital Nomad International Village in the city's suburban Jinshan district opened on Saturday, providing the youths with a laid-back and inspiring atmosphere for work and life.

Digital nomads refer to those who are involved in remote working through the internet and break the binding relationship between work and the work location, said Li Yanning, founder and CEO of Vision and Village, a Beijing-based cultural development firm, with which Jinshan district's Caojing town joined hands to develop the village project.

"They use their laptops and smartphones to work, and can work and live in a place with the most desirable environment or where the cost of living is low," said Li.

"So we aimed to build the village into a demonstration area for realizing such a lifestyle, where digital nomads can start their businesses, work, study, and make friends in such a leisure, watery environment while taking a vacation here," he said, adding that the village has received applications from more than 200 digital nomads.