Apart from his desk, his 20 square meter, 550 yuan ($87) a month apartment has little furniture. His wife Lin Xiuxiu usually lounges on the twin bed, watching shows on her phone with earphones on.

Three years ago, Chen Zhi was a blue-collar factory worker in China. Then his posts on a philosophy forum went viral, and his whole life changed. In late 2021, he asked for advice on the social ...

When he was not toiling away in garment factories, warehouses and printing houses, Chen Zhi translated a version of American academic Richard Polt’s Heidegger: An Introduction – considered one ...