Why Are Young Urbanites Choosing to Head to the Countryside?

Foodthink Says

Last Monday, we shared the reasons why more than ten young people decided to hit pause on their city lives. So why did they not choose to “lie flat”, but instead head to the countryside to learn farming, embracing a more physically demanding and challenging life?

Below are several representative responses. A few of them have already set off, ready to begin a down-to-earth new life at their placement farms.

Wishing all members of the Foodthink 2023 cohort in the Ecological Agriculture Placement Programme the very best in finding their answers—in the land and in nature, in labour and in learning.

Reflections and Actions Sparked by Food

Zhaoyan

Female, 34, degree in Automation, since resigned

In 2021, after leaving my job in Beijing for reasons of mental and physical health, I returned to my hometown and stayed there for nearly a year. Our county boasts of being “the Premier Vegetable County of the North” and the “Home of X Melons”, with over a million mu of fruit and vegetable farmland. I had assumed that back in my little town I could buy fresh, delicious vegetables. But there were none! The only vegetables available were the same wholesale-supplied produce you would find in Beijing. Not only could I not taste the vegetables from my childhood—I could not even hope for anything healthy.

I wandered into the agricultural supply shops and was staggered by the sheer variety and breadth of purposes of the pesticides and chemical agents on display. Right beside the vegetable and melon polytunnels, banner ads openly promoted chive fattening agents, fruit-and-melon ripening agents, size-boosting agents—even eggplants had their own glossing agent!

My parents were dissatisfied with the situation too, but they felt powerless to change it. I thought: if I could set up ecological vegetable farming myself, at the very least I could improve the food on the plates of the people around me. At best, if I could shift the mindset of nearby polytunnel farmers so they stopped depending on pesticides and chemical fertiliser and brought back the taste of the vegetables from my childhood, that would be something truly meaningful.

● Last year’s placement student Zhang Bin has returned to his hometown in Longnan, taking up his grandfather’s mantle as keeper of Highland sheep. He also hopes to gradually change the farming practices and livelihoods of other shepherds. The photo shows him carefully tending the farm’s lambs during his placement at Zhiliangtian (farm).

Dengdeng

Male, 23, working at a state-owned enterprise after graduating with a degree in Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering, but his heart is elsewhere.

“Trapped long in the cage, longing to return to nature.” I grew up in the countryside, with a vast stretch of farmland right outside our door. I remember one particular moment: rising early and standing at the doorway, a sea of green before my eyes. A deep breath—cool air sliding through my nostrils and between my gappy teeth. I felt as though I were floating, about to dissolve into all that green. Now and then a bird call drifted lazily past; farmers moved about; sunlight swept slowly across the rice paddies, rippling, reflecting, until the green stalks shimmered into life.

After that I seldom visited the fields, and it was not until I moved to the city for work that I realised I was most at ease when I was closest to the land.

Now that I live alone and cook for myself, I can pick out the differences between varieties within the same type of fruit or vegetable. Some varieties of tomato are more “mealy”, say—I love those for scrambled eggs with tomato, while others make a better tomato soup base. I’m someone who has to get to the bottom of things. I want to see how my beloved fruits and vegetables actually grow and what, exactly, shapes their flavour.

● One of the main tasks for placement students at Yuefeng Island in Kunshan is collecting, planting, recording and managing over a hundred varieties of heirloom rice, coarse grains and vegetables.

Weiwen

Female, 31, who spent a year working at an intentional community in the United States after graduating with a degree in Landscape Architecture. On returning to China she became a slash worker juggling roles as translator, photographer and English teacher.

I’m an environmentalist and I practise organic living. I don’t order takeaway; I buy my own groceries and cook at home. When choosing food, I check the packaging and ingredient list. The plastic containers I pick up when buying vegetables at the supermarket or getting food to take away from a restaurant, I wash clean, collect and deliver to a recycling centre I trust, so they can be processed back into the loop. This is not merely a lifestyle—it is a philosophy rooted in my values. In this way of living, my own body, too, becomes part of the cycle: keeping recycling in motion, bringing my body back to its origins, freeing myself from being consumed by consumption so I can focus more on myself and the community I am building around me.

One of the connections this way of living creates is to the land. Too much land is seized for development, and far too much more is rendered barren by fertiliser and pesticide. Beautifully packaged, exorbitantly priced fruit is a case in point. Those unsightly but wholesome, delicious, organically grown fruits can’t find buyers because of their looks, so farmers have no choice but to apply synthetic fertiliser and spray pesticides to make them look and taste appealing—destroying the soil in the process. Consumers then pay a premium to pick them up. In the end, people shell out top dollar for unhealthy fruit while the soil is ruined, and the vicious cycle never stops. Humanity itself is the ultimate victim.

The role ecological farms play is part of the broader picture of sustainable development for the planet and all its people. In fact, I have an idea: use ecological farms as radiating centres to build Community Supported Agriculture networks, working with neighbouring communities and local government on environmental causes, achieving sustainable living across a wider area and encouraging more local people to take part. Truly treating yourself as a living being, not a disposable commodity. Everyone should take responsibility for what they put into their body—not eating simply for the sake of eating. Having access to organic, healthy food is a gift from nature and a fundamental dignity of our existence in this world.

● A farm placement is not just about learning to grow crops—it also sharpens your culinary skills. The pumpkin pancakes made by Tiantian, a placement student from the previous cohort, won over every visitor to Zhiliangtian (farm).

Mastering Down-to-Earth Knowledge and Skills

Yancha

26, after completing an undergraduate degree in Environment and Sustainability in the UK, returned to China and worked at two environmental and agricultural non-profit organisations, first at one, then the other. About to resign.

Ever since university, I have felt a strong curiosity and fondness for growing things, and whenever I visit my grandparents in the countryside, I love wandering through their fields. Once I entered the field of sustainable agriculture last year, that curiosity—particularly toward ecological agriculture—grew even stronger. For me, knowledge gained from books alone can feel rather dry and even disconnected from reality. I want to get right to the front line of growing, to fully experience rural life as a farmer, and to take part in the complete operations of ecological agriculture.

● Besides learning to farm, placement students also take part in sales processes such as dispatching orders, attending market days, and handling customer enquiries. The photo shows previous-cohort placement students Xiaofang and Tang Liang selling vegetables at a market in Chengdu.

Hezi

Female, 23, after graduating with an undergraduate degree from an agricultural college, currently working as a farm operations trainer at an agricultural company.

I have always been deeply interested in ecological agriculture. In my first job, I often pondered the connections between ecological agriculture and crop yields, soil, and rural communities—and where the balance might lie. Unfortunately, my work experience so far has not brought me any answers. Going forward, I will very likely work in something related to ecological agriculture. Perhaps I will become a young returnee starting my own venture, and I hope this placement will deepen my understanding of the field.

Xinyi

31, undergraduate degree in German. Worked as a chef at high-end restaurants in Beijing and Canada before resigning and returning to her hometown to rest.

After choosing to leave my last job, I went back home to rest. Now I want to put myself in a new environment and try to rebuild my connection with the land, the water, and the ingredients that raised me—to broaden my extremely limited understanding of agriculture and nature, both in my hometown and across the country. I am also urgently in need of fresh thinking, of finding within it the drive and direction to move forward. I have been following issues around the environment, plants and animals, and water for some time. Over the past two years, I have grown increasingly interested in climate, agriculture, growing, and farm life and operations. I also want to use this placement to see how far I can go in a new field and a new place—where the limits of my ability actually lie.

Qiutian

Male, 22, a graduate in Chinese Literature.

Farms and agriculture may well produce a whole important and unique body of knowledge. Throughout my undergraduate studies, I engaged with agriculture and the countryside in many indirect ways. Once, a teacher mentioned the slogan “Take grain as the key link” in a lecture, and we students found it oddly unfamiliar. I think civilisation is distancing us—by certain means—further and further from what is right in front of us, especially food. I want to use this kind of hands-on practice to understand and take part in the full story behind them.

Mubai

Female, 26, undergraduate and master’s degrees in Chemistry from the UK, since resigned.

Through a few documentaries, I began to think about agriculture as a solution to climate change. I have also long hoped to find a way of living in harmony with nature. I want to understand how food is produced and to explore how agriculture can meet human needs while remaining ecologically sound. I also want to see what agriculture really looks like. Although I have studied permaculture, been deeply inspired by The One-Straw Revolution and Qimin Yaoshu, and read a few growing manuals—gleaning some theory—I have not yet gained a comprehensive grasp of how vegetables and fruit trees grow, or of agricultural production as a whole. I need far more hands-on practice. What I most want to learn is growing: understanding the full growth cycle of plants, getting to know seeds. I would also like to understand product processing and farm management. I hope to spend a good long stretch on a farm doing production work, and to find, through practice, where my strengths lie.

● Labour in the fields is the most important lesson of any placement.

Understanding Agriculture and the Countryside Through Practice

Xiaohui

Male, 23, a recent graduate in Social Work who took part in agricultural placements across different regions of the country during university and launched an ecological growing programme at school.

Over the four years of my undergraduate degree, I grew increasingly aware of the constraints that specialised education imposes on the positive development of individuals and society, and of the helplessness it reveals when faced with today’s systemic, structural social problems.

I grew up in the countryside, and the moment I got to university, I noticed that vast stretches of the school’s farmland were lying fallow. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for what the school’s education was missing, and for what my classmates were missing—I always wished I could do something. In 2020 I found the chance to learn ecological planting at a family-run farm, which laid the groundwork for the growing projects I later ran at school. But unfortunately, the farming area where I was based was struck by a flood: the crops were wiped out overnight. That made me appreciate all the more how precious food is, and how difficult it is to grow. It also drove me to study more actively the far-reaching impact that abnormal weather has on different regions, different communities, and different stages of the food chain.

Young people in our great cities and universities, as the next generation, need to come to terms with this gradually—and to recognise that future education and careers will increasingly revolve around making peace with the world we inhabit. I believe all of this calls for education. But if I want to walk this path, I must step outside the campus, decide what to let go, and explore for myself.

●Yinlin Farm in Guangzhou weathered a “month-long” round of drought and flooding last year. Climate change will also be a topic for the placement students to study and take an interest in at the farm.

Linghua

Female, 24, currently pursuing a master’s degree in Anthropology.

Whether I’m reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma or The Crisis at the Table, I get the same feeling: our current way of living is hostile to the planet, to our immediate surroundings, to other animal lives, and even to our own bodies. The antibiotic misuse laid bare in The Crisis at the Table, in particular, is truly staggering.

Ecological agriculture makes me think of my own discipline—what ethnology, anthropology, even sociology actually study. How much real difference can they make to the world? What kind of change can ecological agriculture bring in a society where speed, scale and beauty reign supreme? Who are the people sticking with it? What, exactly, is ecological agriculture, and how is it different from traditional Chinese farming? If it’s the same thing, are we simply “going backwards”?

Most crucially: are the people who choose ecological agriculture walking an ascetic path of self-righteousness, or carving out a contrarian influencer’s lane beneath the obsession with speed, size and beauty—or are their actions genuinely making a difference to local ecosystems and communities? And if they are, what counts as an “impact”? What makes it meaningful?

I have been mulling these questions over for a long time. It began with my father always insisting that the pork of his generation tasted better than what we eat today—that it actually tasted like pork. He believes today’s pork all comes from feed-fed pigs, and that the breeds have changed entirely from what they used to be. I feel nothing about it; I’ve grown used to the taste of the pork available now. So I’m curious: when we try to satisfy my dad’s idea of what pork used to taste like, what exactly are we satisfying?

Practising a Coherent Way of Living and Working

Ayue

Male, 25, after completing a diploma in Marketing, sold insurance and worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative. Dislikes certain habits of office life and hopes to return to the countryside to live and start a business.

I grew up in a small village in Anhui. My family grew soybeans and wheat, and from a young age I worked the fields too: ploughing, spreading fertiliser, sowing seeds, hoeing weeds as the seedlings came up, pulling them by hand mid-season, hauling a sprayer on my back to apply pesticide, cutting wheat and soybeans with a sickle, running them through a threshing machine (after threshing, you need to roughly sift it once more, and also pick up the beans that go flying in every direction), drying and storing it all.

As a child, I would often go to the paddies to catch fish, dig out shrimp, and grab crabs; I chased wild hares, snared pheasants, and caught hedgehogs. Now I go home and you can’t see any of that at all. It’s also obvious that the soil quality in the fields has deteriorated badly—compaction is severe, and the amount of fertiliser used keeps increasing year on year. Even trying to go fishing, it’s hard to dig up an earthworm.

I remember spraying pesticide—even fully kitted out in protective gear, you’d come home with your skin red, itchy and sore for days. Mum once told me about a man who was spraying pesticide: his feet were so itchy and painful that he simply pointed the nozzle at them and sprayed pesticide directly on, thinking, “So be it—I’d rather die. The itching and pain are unbearable.” As it turned out, he was fine.

During my first year at the vocational college in the city, I still went home during the holidays to help out. Even after I started working, I grew spring onions, garlic and chillies in my rented flat—plus tomatoes, cucumbers, luffa and pumpkins. I love farm work, I can put up with the hardship, and I want to learn ecological agriculture techniques.

Since my last job ended, I haven’t looked for another. I live in a rented place on my own savings, cooking my own meals. I pass the time with walks, books, films, music, games, growing flowers and vegetables, and looking after my landlord’s dozens of potted succulents. Not having to go back to all those bloody bullshit jobs is genuinely joyful. I rarely think about what job I’ll do next.

The internet or agriculture are the directions I’ve found for now, but I think about it and know that going into the internet industry means you can’t avoid 996 overtime—I’d sooner be in a field racing against a harvest. That feels far more satisfying.

● Weeding is one of the toughest jobs on an ecological farm.

Xiuxiu

Female, 30, master’s degree in Clinical Medicine. Spent a year volunteering at a temple.

My family has a few acres back home, and every year before university I took part in the fieldwork, so farm labour is nothing new to me. Growing food has been a wish tucked deep inside me for several years now—partly out of a longing for rural life and natural cultivation, partly because of my religious beliefs. I have always wanted to delve deeper into the essence of life, and the more I explore, the more I feel that the land and nature are intimately connected to what life is fundamentally about. You can feel a genuine sense of joy while working the soil; only in nature can you truly understand the meaning of “unity of heaven and humanity”.

I have cooked for myself over the past two years and shop for groceries often, which has given me a real sense of the food-safety problem. I feel that rather than doing meaningless tasks to earn a wage, then handing my own food safety and physical well-being over to someone else, I would rather get my hands dirty and create it myself.

I am facing a career decision soon, and my desire to go into agriculture grows firmer by the day. To experience and learn in a real setting, rather than leaving it all at the level of imagination, I plan to join the ecological farm placement programme.

Liudazhuo

Female, 27, diploma in Western Culinary Arts. Previously worked in the pastry section at a five-star hotel and on international cruise ships. Started a business in 2019 dedicated to nature and environmental education in her hometown.

To try and experience more things, and explore the balance between life and work as well as more possibilities;

To cultivate an earthy groundedness in life and hone my patience and resilience;

To meet more like-minded companions and relearn teamwork;

To see an ecological farm through a fresh lens—nature education, environmental education, zero waste—and to have a deeper experience;

To use an ecological farm as a better way to understand nature, crops, other living beings, and their relationship with people;

To eat good food and experience the food cultures of different regions;

To explore what impact climate change has on ecological agriculture.

● Stretching and recovering in yoga poses at the edge of the vegetable beds—surely that counts as work-life balance?

Guojing

Female, 26, after completing an undergraduate degree in Sociology in Europe, admitted to a master’s programme in Sociology/Anthropology at a prestigious US university. Currently taking a gap year.

I want to touch the earth, although I have always been running away.

I want to use my body. Forge it, wear it out, let it dissolve into the mud and wind of the natural world. I want to try this and see whether, afterwards, I can offer a new, honest, grounded answer to the question of what the bare essentials of being alive actually are.

Starting from the most fundamental things—the land, food—I want to become a solid, unshakable person, laying a foundation for both spirit and body. Developing the ability to judge basic needs and values.

I want to learn growing and related techniques, to earn my food with my own body. That is a form of respect for eating, for taking in. I want to know what it feels like when growing, raising, physical labour, fear, harvest, eating, sharing, selling, and storing are all woven together.

As a child, summer holidays meant I was allowed to go back to my grandparents’ home: building a stove, riding wild horses, catching grasshoppers, out on the grassland—with plastic bottles scattered at my feet, newspaper articles about grassland degradation and overgrazing back home, all of it jumbled together. The backwardness of education and healthcare, the harshness of the climate, my mother’s resistance to our hometown and her ambition—they pulled me slowly away. I know the leaves and nature love me, I have so much passion, but I always feel powerless.

I have ideas but little practice; I lack a like-minded community. I am someone who only comes alive and stays fresh through doing. I need to face that about myself. The day-in, day-out labour on a farm, the observation of plants and animals—this is a fitting opportunity to address everything above.

I listened to the sharing session by last year’s placement students and farm mentors. I believe I can truly learn from these farmers—I share their values, I envy their skill and their plainness. Put simply, I want to become that kind of person more than I want to become a professor.

● For some reason, the placement programme has attracted particular interest from sociology and anthropology students. Last year, after her farm placement, Jingwen changed her plans to apply for a PhD in Anthropology and decided to continue living and working in the countryside.

Next Stop: The Fields

These young people, full of expectations about agriculture, were perhaps drawn in by the title of our placement programme this year—”In the new year, would you be willing to go to the countryside and try a different way of living?”—but one thing is certain: they are not romanticising rural life, nor are they treating “going to the countryside” as an escape from urban living. Rather, after careful reflection, they hope to explore a more coherent, grounded approach to work and life, and to find answers through hands-on practice to questions that have long intrigued them.

What stories will await them once they reach the fields? What will they gain, and what new ideas will take shape? Stay tuned for Foodthink’s forthcoming coverage.