I once saw a photo of a man with blue hands. They belonged to an artisan textile dyer, an ethnic Miao who goes by the name Han Shan, or Cold Mountain.

我曾经看到过一张照片，是一个双手是蓝色的男人。那双手的主人是一个叫寒山的染布工匠，苗族人。

Intrigued, I requested a meeting. Han Shan said to meet him at an ancient Buddhist monastery in western Sichuan Province, on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

充满好奇的我请求和他见一面。寒山让我去四川西部、青藏高原边缘的一座古庙里找他。

“To put it simply, to us dyeing means life,” he said in the courtyard of the monastery, as we sipped tea under a full moon. I asked him to explain.

“简单来说，染布对我们意味着生命，”他在那座寺庙的院子里说。当时，我们正对着一轮圆月品茶。我请他解释一下这句话。

Speaking in the third person, he told his story.

他用第三人称讲述了自己的故事。

He described a boy who grew up in a village in the mountains of Guizou Province and the textile dyeing tradition of the Miao people. While other ethnic groups in southern China also use natural dyes, the Miao dye is known for its vibrant blue color, which comes from what Han Shan called the “blue herb,” or baphicacanthus cusia.

他说起了自己在贵州山区的苗寨里长大的经历和苗族人的染布传统。尽管中国西南地区的其他少数民族也会使用天然染料，但苗族人的染料因为能染出色泽明亮的蓝色而赫赫有名。这种颜色源自寒山所说的“蓝草”，即青黛。

At 18, when it was time to further his education, Han Shan, like many young Chinese, moved to a big city, Chengdu, in Sichuan, with hopes of a better future. But after a year, he had become disillusioned with China’s urban dream.

18岁时，寒山去四川成都继续学业。和中国很多年轻人一样，去到大城市的寒山希望能有更好的未来。但一年后，他对中国的进城梦大失所望。

One day, he decided to walk away from the city. Literally. He set off on foot, with no specific destination, let alone purpose. It would become a journey of more than 2,000 miles and 15 years.

有一天，他决定徒步离开成都。实打实地用脚走。没有明确的目的地，更别说意图。这一走就是15年，行程超过2000英里（约合3200公里）。

“I wanted to explore an unknown world,’’ he said. “To put it simply, I started walking because I was bored.”

“我想探索未知的世界，”他说。“简单来说，我开始行走是因为我感到厌倦了。”

In the years that he walked across Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and Yunnan, nearly 445 million people moved from China’s countryside to the city. Average incomes jumped to nearly $8,000, from less than $1,000 a year. For most people, life had rapidly transformed for the better.

在他徒步穿越西藏、新疆、甘肃、宁夏和云南的这些年里，中国近4.45亿人从农村搬往城市。人均年收入从不到1000美元，增加到了近8000美元。对大部分人来说，生活迅速向好的方向发展。

But not for Han Shan. He remained in China’s past.

但对寒山来说不是。他仍活在中国的过去。

When asked how he spent his time over those 15 years, he decided it would be best to demonstrate.

被问及过去15年是如何度过的时，他觉得最好通过亲自演示来说明。

The next day, we set off through tea fields, bamboo forests and mountain paths. Along the way, he picked wildflowers, explaining their properties. “This flower can be used as a red dye,” he said, throwing one into a basket on his back.

第二天，我们出发穿过了一片片茶园和竹林，走过一条条山间小道。他把沿途的野花采集起来，解释它们的特性。“这种花可以作为红色染料，”他一边说，一边把一株花扔进背上的背篓里。

In Han Shan’s view, China’s modernization has come at a price: Society has lost its connection with nature. “We are developing so fast, we have forgotten where we came from,” he said. “Materialism is one of the core things that keep people away from nature.”

在寒山看来，中国为现代化付出了代价：社会失去了与自然的联系。“我们发展得这么快，都忘了自己是从哪里来的了，”他说。“物质主义是导致人们远离自然的根源之一。”

For him, this carries dangers: “In Taoism we say: After the moon waxes, it wanes. Prosperity is the prelude to decline. Everything collapses when it reaches such extremes.”

在他看来，这很危险：“道家常说：月盈则亏。繁荣是衰落的前奏。所有事物都会在到达极致时坍塌。”

His answer to China’s materialistic society has been to retreat to this village, Mingyue, on the outskirts of Chengdu, where he cultivates a simple life. Ironically, perhaps, he survives by selling the clothing he dyes to the same people he considers too materialistic.

对于中国的物质社会，他的解决办法是回到成都郊区的明月村。在这里，他过着简单的生活。或许有些讽刺的是，他要把自己染的布卖给那些被他认为太过物质的人，并以此为生。

The dyeing tradition was passed to him from his mother and to her, from many generations of Miao before. Now Han Shan has carried the tradition from Guizhou to Mingyue, where artists and free spirits like himself are creating a new space for themselves. Now, even some local villagers have taken up the dyeing trade.

染布的传统是母亲传给他的，而他母亲则是从之前的无数代苗人那里继承下来的。如今，寒山把这项传统从贵州带到了明月村。在这里，艺术家和像他这种崇尚精神自由的人正在为自己创造一个新的空间。现在，就连当地的一些村民也做起了染布的生意。

Urbanites armed with selfie poles and shiny new cars seeking a weekend getaway drop by to buy the naturally made clothes. Their purchases are putting food in Han Shan’s stomach, a roof over his head and a smartphone in his pocket.

带着自拍杆、开着闪闪发亮的新车、希望利用周末度假放松的城里人会顺便来村里买手工做的衣服。和他们之间的买卖让寒山有东西吃，有地方住，兜里还装上了智能手机。

The natural dyes may have represented life to the Miao people, a connection to the natural world, but now those same dyes are Han Shan’s actual lifeline — his livelihood. Even those willing to walk thousands of miles cannot entirely avoid materialism’s reach.

对苗族人来说，天然染料可能象征着生命，是他们与自然界之间的纽带。但现在，这些染料真的成了寒山赖以生存的依靠，是他的生计。即便是愿意徒步几千英里的人，也无法完全避开物质主义的影响。