Every morning when the alarm rang, all I could see was my dull future,” she told CNN, reflecting on her office job.
Ms Li, 27, is part of a growing base of Chinese workers swopping high-pressure office jobs for flexible blue-collar work.
Many of them used to work for some of the biggest companies in the country.
But these firms are slowly losing their appeal as China’s economy faces headwinds including a property crisis, declining foreign investment and slumping consumption.