Twelve Years Back Home: A First-Generation Left-Behind Child Reunites a Family Through One Ecological Farm | Food Talk Vol. 32
On a blustery day in Beijing in March, we sat down with Tang Liang at the Foodthink office. He had come all the way from Liangliang Family Farm in Sichuan, and he walked us through his twelve-year journey of returning to his hometown.
Tang Liang was the first person in his family to attend university. After graduating from the Department of Biological Sciences, Southwest University, he landed a well-paid, stable white-collar job. Yet a few years later he made an unusual decision: to give up his urban career, return to his hometown of Jintang County outside Chengdu, and establish Liangliang Family Farm.
At first there were only a few mu of the family’s own land. Over time the area stabilised at 30 mu, and Liangliang Farm has become something of a model of “small yet beautiful.”
Combining his family’s daily needs with external market demand, Tang Liang has designed a “pyramid” structure for his ecological cultivation: the apex is the cash crop small yellow ginger, grown for sale; the base provides fresh fruit and vegetables for the family’s own table; and the middle layer – products such as chillies, peanuts and carrots – is flexible, serving both household consumption and market sales.
Can an ecological farm on this small scale allow a family of eleven to live in contentment?
According to the household accounts that Tang Liang shared in 2018, the farm’s per-capita monthly income is around ¥2,000 – which city dwellers might find almost inconceivable. Yet Tang Liang’s family has grown happier by the year. This is due not only to the low cost of raising children and caring for the elderly in the countryside, but also to Tang Liang’s tireless efforts to keep his family together and smooth over tensions.
We will also hear Tang Liang speak about why he returned to his village to start a farm: he and his younger brother were once left-behind children, and he did not want the next generation to bear the same fate. Over those twelve years, a tiny farm gradually grew into today’s Liangliang Farm, drawing the extended family back together and creating a warm, meaningful space in which to live.
Beyond the motto “Be ecological people, build ecological families,” Liangliang Farm is also dedicated to building an ecological community – offering free community courses for local children and constructing benches, small plazas and other shared spaces, encouraging more people to breathe vitality and energy into the village.
As a farm mentor on Foodthink’s Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme, Tang Liang has already hosted two cohorts of interns. He also launched the Niujiaoyan Rural Life Partner Programme, so whether you want to experience farm life or enter the world of ecological agriculture, you can hear Tang Liang’s advice for young people.
Tune in to this episode to hear Tang Liang’s reflections, explore what life means, and think about the relationship between production and living. Let us return to first principles and put life at the centre of everything.
This Episode’s Guest
Tang Liang
Of the post-1985 generation; founder and operator of Liangliang Farm. He previously worked and studied at Xiaomao Lü Citizen Farm Garden and Sharing the Harvest before returning to his village in 2013 to establish Liangliang Family Farm – practising friendly farming, reuniting rural families, and exploring a way of life in the countryside that is close to the essence of life itself.
This Episode’s Hosts
Zeen
A Foodthink editor who hosts so rarely that he forgets to introduce himself on the show. He feels especially grateful to have a job that lets him travel to visit ecological farmers across the country, and hopes the industry will keep growing and going further.
Tianle
Founding editor of Foodthink and convener of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market – a foodie who hopes to honour food producers and workers fully through her own actions.
Timeline
02:43 Liangliang Farm, which supplies ecological ingredients such as small yellow ginger and chilli flakes to the outside market, also grows fruit, vegetables, meat and eggs for its own table, sustaining more than a dozen people on the farm
05:40 Tang Liang’s household accounts: per-capita monthly income of ¥2,000. Friends in the city might ask, “How on earth do you live on that?” Yet Tang Liang and his family seem to be quite happy
07:04 A biology graduate working in a big city – why did Tang Liang choose, twelve years ago, to return to his hometown and start a farm? He says it probably has to do with his childhood, when his parents left to work elsewhere and he and his younger brother became left-behind children… Rather than running a farm, it is more like running a family.
12:24 Setting off to start a farm with just ¥30,000 – is that enough?
14:33 How did Tang Liang’s little farm, step by step, draw back together a whole extended family scattered far and wide? And how did he find a wife and welcome adorable children?
18:45 “Why can’t we live well in the countryside?” After more than a decade back home, Tang Liang’s family members have gradually found their own roles on the family farm, nourishing each other’s lives. The sense of fulfilment this way of life brings cannot be measured by a per-capita income of just ¥2,000
25:13 At a time when young people are widely discussing “severing family ties,” why does Tang Liang want to bring the extended family together? How can a family be reunited while still giving each member their own independent space?
26:38 The secrets of running Liangliang Farm: how do you sell your produce? Should you scale up production? What else can we do in rural areas?
35:51 Building an ecological community: beyond farming, Tang Liang and his family offer free community courses for village children and have built benches and a small plaza where the elderly can rest. It is not only about looking after one’s own family – there is more you can do for your village.
40:27 As a mentor on Foodthink’s Ecological Agriculture Internship Programme, Tang Liang and Liangliang Farm have hosted several young interns. What advice does Tang Liang have for young people who want to experience life on a farm?
46:24 From one farm to many farms, from one family to a whole community – what are Tang Liang’s hopes for the present and the future?
54:13 “Put life at the centre – everything should serve life, and production too should serve life.” Whether in the city or the countryside, it seems we should all pause from time to time and reflect, letting everything return to first principles.
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This Episode’s Podcast Production Team
Co-ordination & Production: Xiaojing
Cover Art: Wanlin
Music: Banong
Editor: Zeen
Contact email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn