What Kind of Life Can the Land Hold? | Screening Registration

City life carries us ever further from the land, but have you ever considered another possibility?

In Chinese, the character for life (生) is composed of the characters for person (人) and earth (土).

Three young women — Suli Liu, Yuyuan Ma, and Shuzhi Wang — bring a cultural perspective that spans China and France, along with a deep curiosity about the countryside. They decided to pick up their cameras and throw themselves into the land of China, eating and living alongside ecological farmers.

The documentary series *Life on the Land* is the fruit of their exploration. More than a visual record using agriculture as its medium, it is a profound dialogue about survival, ideals, and the land. The six episodes turn the camera on ecological farmers who have broken from their original paths to forge a deeper bond with the earth, exploring the question: ‘What kind of life can a person truly live? In the face of mounting upheavals in climate and society, how do we draw inspiration and wisdom from the countryside?’

On 12–13 September, the lead directors of Life on the Land will be coming to Beijing, inviting you to meet these idealists who work the land through film, and to witness the vitality of the land.

 – Episode Guide – 

Crazy Farm

At fifty, Mama Hu decided to leave the glamour and sheen of Taiwan’s business and political worlds and, in her words, plunged right into the great pit of ecological agriculture. Over the past twenty years, she has been growing water-purification forests at Crazy Farm on the outskirts of Chengdu, exploring integrated crop-and-livestock farming and building a business model for a near-urban farm.

Carmine Purple Rice

Seven varieties of rice in different colours have added a burst of colour to the paddy fields of this small village nestled in the heart of Guizhou Province. ‘These are ancient rice varieties. For the past six years, we have been collecting them from local villagers. We have now built up a small seed bank, so if any villagers wish to replant these old varieties, we can provide them with the seeds they need,’ Chen Xi told us. From spending her childhood in Beijing to holding a senior post in Washington, D. C., Chen Xi once lived the ‘American Dream’ herself, only to later choose to leave it all behind in pursuit of a quiet life among the mountains of Guizhou. Her husband, Bangrong, is Dong, an ethnic minority in southern China. Despite their vastly different childhoods, life paths, and temperaments, they ultimately crossed paths on the terraced rice hills.

Earth-Born Eats

Inside Earth-Born Eats, in the heart of Kunming, the light is soft and the menu short and seasonal; diners are already lost in the aromas drifting from the kitchen. When the restaurant is quiet, Fanli seizes the chance to visit her parents. It is in the vegetable garden that her brightest smile appears. Were it not for the weight of social expectation, her greatest wish would be to become a farmer. “Why would a university graduate want to become a farmer?” Her father asked when she told him of this wish. Over the past decade, her parents have learned ecology from her, and she has learned the wisdom of farming from them.

Burning Wheat

As an entrepreneur in the advertising industry, Dahei turned to regenerative farming at the age of 40. One simple lecture on the subject was enough to spark this unlikely convert’s interest and lead him to reinvent his life. From 20 mu (about 1.3 hectares) to 240 mu (16 hectares) of land, from wheat cultivation to a biscuit production line, from a second-hand tractor to a multi-purpose farm machine customised to his needs – over the past decade, Dahei has been constantly experimenting and, together with his son Lexin, charting new territory in regenerative farming.

Suli Liu: Suli graduated from Sciences Po Paris and Montpellier SupAgro, specialising in innovation and policy in sustainable agriculture and food. Her father is Chinese, her mother French; she spent eighteen years in China.

Yuyuan Ma: Yuyuan graduated from Beijing Forestry University in 2015, then completed her studies at ÉSAD Pyrénées in France in 2025 (DNSEP, Design – specialising in multimedia graphic design). She currently lives and works in southern France.

Shuzhi Wang: Shuzhi is a photographer and video creator devoted to exploring alternative scenes in China. For years, she has kept in touch with young people who have chosen to live differently. Her nature-themed work began during the pandemic, when she had the opportunity to settle in an ecological village in Sichuan Province.

▼