How do young people define "home"?
Text by | Shenhai
Home, a complex noun. As living places become more diverse, "home" has come to carry too many meanings—it is far more than just a simple place to stay. Some people living in a 200-square-meter three-bedroom apartment may still feel a lack of belonging, while others in a 20-square-meter studio may find that as soon as they enter the door, the weight on their hearts lifts, and they feel light and free.
Young people are always in pursuit of an indescribable feeling of "home," which is a necessity for all urban youth.
The norm of life is disorderly. It's like an uncertain adventure, and everyone is searching for their own path within it. But occasionally, they also need some orderly moments to let their tired bodies rest.
The feeling of "home" is born from this: For those with a 9-to-5 job, home is a save point in the daily grind; for home-based creators, home is a fortress that maintains a comfortable distance from the world; and for those who are constantly on the go, home is an energy station for a short stop. But no matter how the form changes, the core remains the same. Home is a corner where one can shed their fatigue and allow themselves to completely relax and be at ease.
Ziroom represents a state of self-consistent living and is also a well - known rental app to many.
During the "Ziroom Life Festival" in 2025, we found two Ziroom tenants with very different lifestyles: Ouyang Ziwen, a self - media creator, and An Jiu, an astronomical photographer. One of them stays at home most of the time, while the other is always on the road, yet they both found their own rhythm and sense of ease in their Ziroom apartments.
01
OWEN Ouyang Ziwen: An introvert, a world observer, and a "living - room creator" of 600 - million - view hits
OWEN stays at home for about 300 days out of 365 in a year.
It's hard to imagine that OWEN Ouyang Ziwen, a self - media musician with 3.45 million fans on Douyin, is a socially anxious "low - energy person." Just by watching his short videos, viewers would immediately assume that he is a "social butterfly." "Spring Festival Gala sketches: then and now," "Besties who offer high emotional value," "When your best friend hangs out with someone you hate"... He is good at finding ordinary life scenarios and expressing his observations on life details and interpersonal relationships through rap.
He turns jokes into songs, and his catchy rhythms and abstract body language resonate with many young people. All his videos have a common feature—he wears colorful Adidas sports jackets and performs in front of the same blue - gray curtain.
A screenshot of OWEN's short video
Although he is abstract and funny in his videos, playing multiple roles, once you step into his real - life home, you'll confirm that he is a typical INTP. He doesn't go out often, and he only has a few close friends. "I'm not the type of person who likes to show off. People may think there's a contrast between me in the videos and in real life, but this is just my natural state. I get nervous easily."
He is also a lucky introvert because he can work and live at home, so he can legally stay indoors.
"People may not understand, but my work and life are basically integrated." He still goes to the gym and plays games, but work is always intertwined. Maybe when he's working out, he'll suddenly come up with an idea related to fitness and immediately start thinking about it. Creation is no longer just his job; it's his habit of observing the world and an instinct for continuous thinking and expression. That's why he can better mobilize his inner energy.
Five years ago, when OWEN graduated from college and started working in Beijing, finding a place to rent was his first big challenge. He's not good at communicating with others and handling trivial matters. He didn't understand the tricks and hidden pitfalls in the real - estate agency business. After looking at several apartments that didn't match the descriptions, he still couldn't make a decision. Finally, he took his classmate's advice and chose Ziroom, and he's been living there for five years. In his words, Ziroom is the most friendly platform for introverts. Most of the signing and maintenance - request procedures can be completed on the app without having to talk to anyone.
He spends most of his time at home and only has a few close friends. His choice of Ziroom is largely because he doesn't want to deal with strangers. The services provided by Ziroom, such as the property manager communicating with the landlord, monthly cleaning, and one - click maintenance requests on the app, make him feel taken care of. It's a friendly and worry - free experience.
When you enter OWEN's home, you'll see the familiar curtain from his videos. This is his biggest comfort zone and also a standard feature in Ziroom apartments. Behind the curtain is a bay - window balcony filled with messy fish tanks and cat trees. To be precise, they are "turtle tanks." Although OWEN is a young man born in 1997, he has a somewhat "elderly" hobby—raising turtles. Turtles are easy to keep and don't require much care. He can feel a lasting life force from their slow movements. When he needs a break from recording songs, writing lyrics, or shooting videos, he likes to play with his cat or just watch the turtles crawl quietly by the tank.
In the past five years, he has moved to two different apartments, but the home furnishings haven't changed much. The decoration style of Ziroom is quite unified, so moving is like not moving at all. He admits that he hates trouble and doesn't like big changes. The unified decoration style of Ziroom allows him to stay in a familiar environment even after moving. For him, this is a way to "save energy" and also allows him to free up more mental space for thinking and creating.
Some friends have asked him why he chose to develop his career in Beijing when his hometown is in Hunan. His answer is "habit." "This is where my career started. Many of my songs were created in this small apartment in Beijing. I really can't bear to leave."
When asked about the coolest thing he did in 2025, he said it was deciding to stay in Beijing in 2026. This familiar home is the source of his sense of security and provides stable spiritual fuel for his creation.
02
An Jiu: A star - chaser on the road every month, and "home" is her "private universe"
An Jiu is away from home for about 300 days out of 365 in a year.
People who meet An Jiu for the first time would hardly imagine that this gentle - looking girl is a freelance photographer who often travels alone to the wilderness to shoot celestial phenomena. Whether she is at home or not depends entirely on the astronomical calendar. Most of the time, she spends her days outdoors.
Recently, she has stayed at home for the longest period in a while—she hasn't gone out for over a month because of a recurrence of an old knee injury. In 2019, while shooting the Perseid meteor shower, she fell from a rock formation on Huangshan Mountain, causing a patellar injury. Since then, this injury has often caused discomfort during strenuous activities or climate changes. The doctor advised her to reduce outdoor activities, avoid heavy loads, and undergo at least half a year of systematic rehabilitation training.
However, when rare celestial phenomena occur, she still can't resist the urge to go out. She often resumes activities before her injury has fully healed. As a result, her knee joint has been in a compensatory state for a long time, gradually leading to a chain - reaction injury of the meniscus and ligaments.
In the past nine years, her life trajectory can be easily summarized—following the movement of the stars and chasing the footprints of the celestial bodies. To capture unique starry skies, she has been to the Arctic at minus 30 degrees Celsius, got lost in a blizzard, and even encountered a wolf pack in Tibet. In fact, An Jiu is also afraid when she goes to the wild alone. She remembers that once when she was shooting in Namibia, South Africa, the clear sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, covering all the stars. In an instant, it became pitch - black, and a suffocating sense of fear surrounded her. "I realized that I'm not actually fearless. I'm afraid of being alone. I just used to think of the stars as my friends." The fear only emerged when the stars disappeared.
She is like a lone boat floating on the sea all the time. Abroad or in the wilderness, she feels that the environment is strange and hard to fit into. She often describes the state of shooting the starry sky as "When the cold wind bites, my body is in an ice cave, but my eyes are in heaven." Under long - term low temperatures, stillness, and high - intensity shooting, her body endures far more than what is shown in the pictures.
Although she is happy for a long time every time she captures a beautiful nebula, the physical exhaustion from traveling is real. Only when she returns home after each shoot can she completely relax.
"If I've been on the road for 20 days straight, I'll be very tired. Then I always want to come back, even if it's just for a short break of 3 - 5 days. "The vastness of the starry sky contrasts sharply with the warmth of home. Every time An Jiu comes home, she feels that 'I can completely let myself go.'"
She rents an apartment from Ziroom. Although she spends little time at home, she has put a lot of effort into decorating her small home. Everyone who enters An Jiu's home is amazed by its exquisite decoration. It's been less than a year since she moved into this apartment, but she has turned it into her "private universe": the star - sky photography works on the walls, the neatly arranged photography equipment on the table, and she even made a mini - version of the star - sky installation that was once exhibited in an art gallery and placed it at home.
It's like a star - sky art gallery. When choosing an apartment, An Jiu's criteria are simplicity, cleanliness, and a white - based color scheme, which makes it easy to decorate according to her own preferences after moving in. The unified decoration style of Ziroom perfectly meets her requirements.
Some friends have asked her if she doesn't feel it's a pity to decorate her home so nicely but only spend a short time there. She thinks the opposite is true. It's precisely because she spends little time at home that she wants to make it comfortable, relaxing, and beautiful. In this way, the sense of happiness she gets from home after being away for a while is even stronger.
She also made an arrangement with the Ziroom cleaning staff. Even when she's not at home, the cleaners will come on time. So every time she comes back, her home is always clean and tidy. Ziroom is like a "strict - selection" standard in the rental market, with a clear quality framework that can help her filter out many unnecessary options, greatly saving her time and energy.
After a long - term journey, home is a "charging station" where she can completely shed all her burdens and start anew.
