12 Years Back Home: A First-Generation Left-Behind Child Reunites a Family with an Eco-Farm | Food Talk Vol. 32
On a windy March day in Beijing, we sat down with Tang Liang, who had travelled all the way from Liangliang Farm in Sichuan, to reflect on his twelve-year journey back to the countryside at the Foodthink offices.
Tang was the first in his family to attend university. After graduating in biological sciences from Southwest University, he secured a stable white-collar job, only to make an unconventional choice a few years later: he left the city to return to his hometown of Jintang County, Chengdu, and founded Liangliang Family Farm.
Starting with just a few plots of family land, the farm gradually expanded before settling at around 30 mu, making Liangliang Farm a prime example of ‘small but beautiful’ agriculture.
Blending his family’s daily needs with external market demand, Tang adopts a ‘pyramid’ approach to ecological farming: the top tier consists of cash crops like yellow ginger for export; the base provides fresh fruit and vegetables for the family; and the middle tier features crops such as chillies, peanuts, and carrots, which are flexible enough to be used at home or sold.
Can a small-scale ecological farm like this really provide a stable and fulfilling life for an extended family of eleven?
According to the household ledger Tang shared in 2018, the farm generates an average monthly income of around 2,000 yuan per person. While this might seem surprisingly modest to city dwellers, the family has grown increasingly content. This is partly thanks to the lower cost of raising children and caring for the elderly in rural areas, but it is equally due to Tang’s tireless efforts to keep the family united and resolve internal conflicts.
In this episode, Tang also shares what originally motivated him to return home and start farming: he and his younger brother were ‘left-behind children’, and he refused to let the next generation endure the same fate. Over twelve years, a modest plot has grown into today’s Liangliang Farm, drawing the entire clan together and creating a warm, purposeful space to live and thrive.
Beyond the motto of ‘becoming an ecological person and gathering an ecological family’, Liangliang Farm is also committed to building an ecological community. It offers free educational programmes for local children and has developed public spaces like benches and small plazas, inspiring broader efforts to revitalise the village.
As a farm mentor for Foodthink’s Ecological Farming Internship Programme, Tang has already hosted two cohorts of interns. He has also launched the Niujiaoyan Rural Life Partnership Initiative. Whether you’re looking to experience farm life or break into ecological agriculture, Tang’s advice for young people is well worth hearing.
Press play on this episode to hear Tang’s reflections on finding meaning in life, explore the relationship between production and daily living, and join us in returning to our original intentions—putting life itself at the centre.
Guest
Tang Liang
Born in the mid-1980s, founder and manager of Liangliang Farm. After training and working at Xiaomaolü Citizen Farm and Sharing Harvest, he returned home in 2013 to establish Liangliang Family Farm. He is dedicated to regenerative agriculture, strengthening rural family bonds, and exploring a countryside lifestyle that stays true to the essence of life.
Host
Zeen
A Foodthink editor so rarely on air that she forgets to introduce herself. She feels deeply grateful for a job that takes her on trips to visit ecological farmers across the region, and hopes to see this sector grow stronger and reach further.
Tianle
Founding editor at Foodthink and organiser of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. A self-described food lover who strives to honour food producers and workers through everyday action.
Timestamps
02:43 While Liangliang Farm supplies ecological produce such as small yellow ginger and chilli powder to the outside world, it also grows the fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs the family eats themselves, enabling the dozen or so people on the farm to live largely self-sufficiently
05:40 Tang Liang’s household finances: an average income of 2,000 yuan per person each month. Friends in the city might well ask, “Ah, how do you possibly survive on that?” Yet Tang Liang and his family seem to be living quite contentedly.
07:04 With a degree in biology and a career in a big city, why did Tang Liang choose to return home and start a farm twelve years ago? He says the answer goes back to his childhood, when his parents left for work in the cities, leaving him and his younger brother as ‘left-behind children’… Rather than merely running a farm, he’s been nurturing a family.
12:24 Is 30,000 yuan enough to go home and start a farm?
14:33 How did Tang Liang’s modest farm gradually draw his scattered, extended family back together? Along the way, he also married his wife and started a little family of his own.
18:45 “Why shouldn’t we be able to live well in the countryside?” Over the past dozen years, members of Tang Liang’s family have gradually found their place on their own farm, enriching each other’s lives. The sense of fulfilment this way of life brings cannot be measured by a monthly per capita income of just 2,000 yuan.
25:13 At a time when young people are increasingly talking about cutting ties with extended family, why does Tang Liang insist on bringing a large household together? How can a family be kept close while still giving everyone their own independent space?
26:38 The secrets behind running Liangliang Farm: How do you sell your produce? Do you need to scale up? What else can we do in rural areas?
35:51 Building an ecological community: Beyond farming, Tang Liang and his family offer free educational classes for village children and have built benches and a small square where the elderly can rest. It’s a way of caring for their own family while giving back to the village.
40:27 As a mentor for Foodthink’s Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme, Tang Liang and Liangliang Farm have hosted several young interns. What advice does Tang Liang have for those eager to come and experience farm life?
46:24 From one farm to many, from one family to an entire community, what are Tang Liang’s hopes for the present and the future?
54:13 “Life should be at the centre of everything. All activities, including production, ought to serve life.” Whether in the city or the countryside, it seems we could all do with pausing now and then to reflect and return to what truly matters.
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Production Team for this Episode
Co-ordination & Production: Xiaojing
Cover Design: Wanlin
Music: Banong
Editing: Zain
Contact: xiaojing@foodthink.cn