20 Years in Rural Development: Observing the Transformation of China’s Countryside | Food Talk Vol. 36

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This episode of Food Talk features Huang Guoliang, an experienced rural development practitioner. As is common among his peers, we usually refer to him simply as ‘Lao Liu’.

Lao Liu has been working in rural communities for nearly two decades, having first embarked on this path in 2005. He shared that his journey began while volunteering as a teacher in Shaanxi, where he witnessed the crumbling state of rural education and the severe plight of left-behind children. Over the years, his work has taken many forms: establishing schools for farmers, running farms, serving as a project officer for foundations, and founding his own non-profit to help farmers transition to ecological agriculture.

In those early days, they were true pioneers. At the Yang Jichu Rural Construction Academy in Dingxian, Hebei, they helped farmers set up cooperatives and taught them how to cultivate crops without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, and even how to build their own homes using eco-friendly methods. The goal was always to empower farmers to organise themselves and become self-reliant. They also used Beijing’s Little Donkey City Farm as a bridge to help urban residents understand the complexities of rural life.

Since returning to Guangxi and working for years in a region still characterised by smallholder farming, Lao Liu has developed several distinctive perspectives. He believes, for instance, that heritage seed preservation should be woven into local culture and daily life, and that ecological agriculture must first address an individual’s need to earn a stable living. When he sees some ecological farmers adopting an ‘us versus them’ stance towards conventional agriculture, Lao Liu argues that coexistence and mutual learning are far more practical and sensible approaches. The open-mindedness that comes through in his words helps explain why his ongoing ‘ecological agriculture training’ programme in Guangxi has been so successful at bringing together farmers from diverse backgrounds. Long after the courses end, the bonds between these farming colleagues often remain strong.

Looking back, many of the challenges that weighed heavily on farmers and rural communities two decades ago appear to have been alleviated. Roads have been paved, poverty reduced, and village collectives have grown wealthier, largely thanks to an influx of external investment and resources. Yet, have all rural issues been resolved? Facing the ‘new three burdens’ of healthcare, elderly care and education, alongside the relentless pressures of a rapidly shifting agricultural market, how can farmers truly secure a stable footing? Lao Liu has been modest enough to say he does not have the answers to these grand questions, but his work over the past twenty years speaks for itself.

So please, tune in to this episode and listen as Lao Liu shares his story.

This/Episode’s/Guest

Lao Liu

Born Huang Guoliang in Hepu, Guangxi, he began his rural development work in 2005. He has played a key role in establishing the Ecological Agriculture Studio at the Yang Jichu Rural Construction Academy, Beijing’s Little Donkey City Farm, the Guoren Shared Meals Community Canteen in Chongqing, and the Nanning Urban Farmers’ Market. He also founded the Guangxi Guoren Rural Poverty Alleviation & Development Centre and launched a local platform dedicated to preserving Guangxi’s indigenous crop varieties. Currently based in Guangxi, he works independently on ecological agriculture initiatives.

 

 

This/Episode’s/Host

Tianle

Founding Editor at Foodthink and convener of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. Despite over a decade working within the food and farming sector, he acknowledges his own limitations and has primarily worked in urban settings. He holds deep respect for those who work directly within rural communities and are making a tangible difference.

 

 

 

Wang Hao

Editor at Foodthink. It is said he travelled to Nanning simply to meet Lao Liu in person. As a younger colleague, he gained a wealth of insights into the past during this episode.

 

 

 

 

Young Lao Liu at the Yan Yangchu Rural Construction Academy in Dingxian, Hebei. The top photograph shows slogans painted on the wall with a distinctly retro feel, while the bottom features Lao Liu and Huang Zhiyou (currently General Manager of Little Donkey Citizens’ Farm) in front of the academy’s eco-friendly buildings.

At Little Donkey Citizens’ Farm in Beijing, between 2008 and 2009, volunteers transformed a patch of wasteland (top) into a vegetable garden, which later became a key hub for Beijing’s community food movement.
In 2012, the Guoren Da Pinghuo Community Canteen opened in Chongqing, championing ‘locally produced, seasonally consumed’ principles, with costs shared equally between buyers and sellers.

At the Guangxi Ecological Farmers’ Annual Conference, ecological farmers swap the seeds they have brought. Image source: Shanshui Nirvana Permaculture Centre

Lao Liu is running a rice breeding workshop at Guoren in Guangxi, assisting farmers with the introduction, conservation, saving, and rejuvenation of heirloom seeds. Can anyone recognise who the person on the far right of the first image is?

Lao Liu is running a soil course at Guoren in Guangxi. Though billed as a soil class, it is actually broader agricultural training, leveraging the advantages of ecological farming to help farmers reduce costs, stabilise yields, and improve quality.

Timeline

00:48 Listen to Lao Liu, who has extensive experience working in rural communities, discuss his own work and the changes in China’s rural agriculture over the past two decades.

04:45 How do cooperatives dedicated to rural reconstruction foster an orderly approach to rebuilding rural life? Their efforts ultimately played an indirect role in the passage of the Farmers’ Cooperatives Law.

23:12 Why did young students studying desertification control at Northwest A&F University choose rural development instead of environmental protection?

24:39 Redefining the value of farmers: In today’s new economic landscape, how can farmers find their place and purpose? Must the countryside remain an appendage of urban life, perpetually exploited by cities?

26:58 What opportunities and challenges did Lao Liu encounter when returning to Guangxi to practise ecological farming? This experience also prompted him to rethink the relationship between urban and rural life: Does an urban education focused on specialisation turn us into narrow-minded “cogs in the machine” who can only see things from a single perspective?

39:25 What is the real significance of promoting local crop varieties and preserving heritage seeds? Why must “conserving heritage seeds” be woven into the daily lives of local communities?

50:42 Reflecting on his volunteer teaching experience in Shaanxi, Lao Liu shares what led him down the path of rural development.

56:26 Getting back to the land: Letting go of the idea that conventional and ecological farming are irreconcilable, and exploring how the two can coexist.

71:12 The three major burdens facing farmers: livelihood, education, and healthcare. If these cannot be adequately addressed in rural areas, the countryside will remain stuck in its current state.

75:28 A sense of mission in promoting ecological farming: While every farmer’s chosen method of production deserves respect, advocating for unsustainable practices warrants criticism, as the ultimate victims are the farmers themselves and the wider public.

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Production Team for This Episode

Producer: Xiao Jing

Music: Ba Nong

Cover Art: Wan Lin

Editor: Wang Hao

Contact: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

Published by Foodthink