When Lonely and Weary, Remember: I Have the Land Behind Me

I. I. To the Farm!

On the journey from Chengdu back to Kunming, passing through endless long tunnels, my mobile signal flickered in and out, mirroring the instability of my own state of mind. One moment I was at the Chengdu Life Market helping Liangliang Farm sell loofahs; the next, I was returning to the city, far removed from the land.

I studied visual anthropology, and through my work in the southwest, I’ve encountered many ethnic groups and filmed a wide array of livelihoods. I spent a great deal of time interacting with villagers and the land, yet there were moments when I felt a persistent sense of inadequacy.

To outsiders, I appeared to understand rural life, but my knowledge was superficial. When I came across a plant, I wanted to identify it but lacked the confidence to do so, only feeling sure after checking an app on my phone. Even my films always felt as if something was missing.

I have always been drawn to the rural-themed films of Abbas, Shinsuke Ogawa and Agnès Varda—particularly Ogawa. In his memoir, *Harvesting Cinema*, he describes how, in order to film his documentaries with greater authenticity, he lived, farmed and protested alongside the villagers. He persisted in this for over a decade before his films were finally completed.

Looking at films from the last decade, *The Biggest Little Farm*—which inspired so many to start their own farms—is itself a documentary. Similarly, *Little Forest*, which conveys a profound philosophy of life through simple food, was created by a manga artist who spent a long time living in the Japanese countryside.

Last year, I came across the call for Foodthink’s agroecology interns. The prospect of working on the land as a ‘local’ aligned perfectly with my own aspirations, and I applied without a second thought.

II. Family Farms: A Division of Labour

Liangliang Farm is situated in a small village called Niujiao in Jintang County, on the northeastern fringes of the Chengdu Plain. The soil is predominantly yellow clay, and the land is mainly used for growing rice, maize, sweet potatoes, rapeseed, and vegetables.

Most locals spend their days riding small tricycles past stretches of maize fields—a ten-minute journey to the town for school, to buy supplies, or to play cards. On even-numbered days of the month, a market is held where many things not usually available can be found.

It was on such a tricycle that I was picked up by the farm owner, Tang Liang, who had carved out some time from his busy farming schedule to collect me.

As soon as I arrived at the farm, Tang Liang began introducing me to the family. There are currently eleven members of the extended family behind Liangliang Farm; with the exception of three young children, every single person has a vital role to play.

Tang Liang is the overall lead for external relations and operations; his father is primarily responsible for the day-to-day production in the fields; his mother supports his father and manages the farm’s catering and domestic arrangements. His younger brother, Tang Jin, oversees production coordination, while his sister-in-law, Xiaoqiao, assists him and helps with the dispatch of produce. Tang Liang’s partner, Lizi, is in charge of education as well as the farm’s overall aesthetics and decoration. As for his elder uncles, they are now in their retirement; they spend their time enjoying a peaceful life, lending a hand whenever they can.

Why did he want to start a farm? Recalling his childhood, Tang Liang explains that his parents, like so many other rural parents, had moved away for work. With them gone for years on end, he and his brother became ‘left-behind children’, always longing for the days when the family would be reunited.

After graduating from university, Tang Liang realised that running a farm could be a way to bring the family together. Following a two-year internship at a farm in Beijing, he took the only 30,000 yuan he had and resolutely returned to his hometown to begin his exploration of the family farm.

III. A Decade at Liangliang Farm

It has been about ten years since the farm was established. The extended family weren’t all together from the start; instead, they returned one by one, inspired by Tang Liang.

His eldest and younger uncles, who had never married due to health reasons, were the first family members to support him. They began with their own small experiments on a few plots of family land, planting a wide variety of crops.

By the second year, his father, who had been working away from home, joined in, and his younger brother and sister-in-law, who were working in Guangdong, also joined the farm. It was then that the farm began to turn a profit.

In the third year, his mother closed down her mahjong parlour in town. The family, who had seldom seen one another, gradually reunited at the new farm, each contributing their own strengths through a coordinated division of labour.

A few years later, Tang Liang found love in Lizi, who was exploring Waldorf education. Lizi’s arrival breathed new life into the farm; from beautifying the grounds to parent-child education, Liangliang Farm took on a deeper meaning.

Amidst the rapid upheavals of contemporary Chinese society, Liangliang Family Farm seems to have unlocked the possibility of an entirely new way of living. While there are frictions and a constant stream of new challenges to navigate, the family’s collective happiness is palpable.

Over the last decade, the farm has evolved every year. Tang Liang built a new house, the uncles experimented with new crops, Lizi refreshed the landscaping, Tang Jin bought a tractor and built a new cold-store, and the aunts and uncles embarked on new learning journeys…

This modest family farm sustains a household of eleven, while gradually exploring paths for the children’s education, care for the elderly, and further education for the young adults, eventually beginning to foster a stronger sense of community within the village. Every day on the farm, both the land and the people pulse with a renewed vitality.

IV. Those Who Left, Those Who Stayed

During my time at the farm, the people I spent most of my days with were Xiao Qiao and Li Zi.

I spent almost every day weeding with Xiao Qiao. Summers in Chengdu are scorching; the midday sun is intense enough to melt you, so work can only be done in the early mornings and evenings. If you slack off for even a day, the weeds can grow out of control by the next.

With the heavy summer rains, the family’s own labour isn’t enough. We have to hire villagers to help out; otherwise, the weeds would outpace the crops, jeopardising the harvest.

Over the course of a month, we weeded the ginger patch three times. It is repetitive, diligent work and a vital part of ecological farming; I finally understand why there are so many weeding scenes in the Summer and Autumn parts of *Little Forest*. Fortunately, for those who live off the land, every drop of sweat shed for the soil is never wasted.

It has been many days since I left the farm. I often see them posting on social media, sharing glimpses of their wonderful lives, and I suddenly feel a great distance between us, wondering if they still think of me as one of the ‘family’. Then, one morning, Li Zi messaged me: ‘Xiao Fang, You You says: Auntie Xiao Fang hasn’t come back yet.’ He still remembered me.

Unlike the other interns, I was there for less than a month, and I was often haunted by a sense of guilt and a feeling that I’d left things unfinished. That was until one day, while passing a farmhouse garden, I spotted the familiar leaves of ginger among the various crops. I approached, hesitant, to check—it was that same familiar scent. Now, when I share it with my friends, I do so with confidence; these plants are no longer strangers to me.

I believe these memories will always stay with me, and they will never be erased.

V. V. A Friend to the Farmer

Having started working after graduation, I have little in the way of savings. Amidst the pandemic, while I longed to do so many things, the pressure to earn a living weighed on me. For now, I must bow to the necessity of making ends meet and simply be a friend to the farmers.

Upon returning to Yunnan, I found new farmers here and took the first step towards a ‘healthy lifestyle’. To my surprise, this wasn’t a simple task. The very next day after buying my first organic cauliflower, I found two huge insects crawling on it, which gave me quite a fright.

Despite having fought many a battle with all sorts of tiny insects back at the farm, facing them again in a different setting meant I had to mentally steel myself once more and challenge my existing perceptions.

Anyone who gains insight into the deeper stories behind their food will inevitably, as I did, change how they view the producers. By understanding their worldview, we can engage with them with genuine empathy and respect. In doing so, the social standing of producers will rise, their incomes will increase, and naturally, more young people will be drawn to the profession.

Just because we aren’t on the front line of production doesn’t mean we are entirely disconnected from it. In fact, we have played an indirect role in shaping the state of agriculture as it is today. For instance, when three chickens are offered for 59.9 yuan on a livestream, people flock to buy them. Yet, farmers dedicated to ecological rearing have never received such attention.

Since coming to Liangliang’s Farm, I have felt increasingly that agriculture is no simple affair. If you aren’t in a position to start your own farm just yet, why not take Lizi’s advice and start by making friends with farmers?

Whenever I walk through the bustling streets and feel lonely and exhausted, I remind myself: I have the land at my back.

About the Ecological Farm Internship Programme

In November 2021, Foodthink launched the ‘Ecological Farming Internship Programme’ as part of our ongoing efforts to empower the sector. Following a rigorous selection process, we matched 18 interns with 11 farms across eight provinces and cities for placements lasting between two months and one year.

We hope that these ecological farms can distil their valuable expertise in farm management, production techniques, and marketing, providing a roadmap for young people wishing to return to the countryside to pursue sustainable farming. Simultaneously, interns from diverse backgrounds can contribute their own unique strengths, bringing fresh energy to the farms while reducing the learning curve and the risks associated with starting their own rural ventures in the future.

Foodthink will launch the second phase of the Ecological Farming Internship Programme in 2023. Stay tuned!

Unless otherwise stated, all photographs in this article were taken by the author

Editor: Zen