A sheep-herding gig in China got 1,000 applications in 2 days — and 10% of applicants had degrees

At first glance, it might sound unusual. A job posting in northern China offering people 16,000 yuan (about $2,400 USD) a month to herd sheep — plus free housing, food, and Wi-Fi — drew more than 1,000 applications in less than 48 hours.

On Chinese social media platform Weibo, one hashtag related to the job ad gathered 59 million views. And not from just anyone. About 10% of applicants reportedly had university degrees.

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The job itself isn’t complicated, but it’s not exactly easy: herding, feeding and keeping track of roughly 3,000 sheep spread across nearly 50 square miles of grassland in Inner Mongolia. Long stretches of total isolation, cold winters, and days spent mostly outdoors — far from big cities and office life.

Forty-five-year-old farm owner Zuo Xiaoyong says he was caught off guard by how quickly interest exploded, but that he also understood the appeal of the job.

“There are no arguments or deception here, no complicated workplace relationships like in the big companies,” he told (1) NBC News (1) . “Only cattle and sheep.”