Why are young Chinese escaping to the countryside?

With China's rapid economic development in the last decades, young people often flee to booming coastal cities in pursuit of better job opportunities and living conditions. But there is a new trend right now - people in the younger generation are increasingly packing up and moving back to the countryside.

Why are so many young Chinese people giving up the financial promise of the city to toil in the fields back home?

For thousands of years, China has been a farming country. Chinese cultivation practices stretch back for millennia; the country has led the world in horticulture and animal husbandry. 

The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms, such as Start of Spring, Rain Water, Waking of Insects. Each of them reflects the changes of the season, climate, and will guide farmers in agriculture production. And the dominance of rural life is reflected in Chinese literature, art, poetry and culture.

Clearing Rain, by Du Fu

The sky's water has fallen, and autumn clouds are thin,

The western wind has blown ten thousand li.

This morning's scene is good and fine,

Long rain has not harmed the land.

The row of willows begins to show green,

The pear tree on the hill has little red flowers.

A hujia pipe begins to play upstairs,

One goose flies high into the sky.

雨晴

天水秋云薄
从西万里风
今朝好晴景
久雨不妨农
塞柳行疏翠
山梨结小红
胡笳楼上发
一雁入高空

Although ancient Chinese culture also gave rise to large urban centers, their combined population rarely exceeded 10 percent of China's total population. All this changed from the 1980s, when people flocked to booming coastal cities to work.

Since then, China has embarked on the most rapid urban migration in history and by 2024, 64 percent of the Chinese people lived in cities. However, the Chinese romance with nature has never left the people's psyche. From the balconies of their city flats to the gardens of their adopted lands, you will find Chinese people growing vegetables everywhere.

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The older generation migrated from the land to seek the bright lights and financial promise of the cities and it was expected that the younger Chinese generation would follow a similar pattern to those in industrialized Europe – rural life would lose its appeal, being associated with poverty and isolation, not to mention old-fashioned ways. 

However, Chinese Millennials and Gen Zs have bucked this trend with many moving back to the countryside to live the new "modern Chinese rural lifestyle."

What is different about the young Chinese?

Younger Chinese aspirations and attitudes towards work are changing. Millennials and Gen-Zs say they no longer live to work, but work to live. This means they are prioritizing flexibility and work-life balance over financial reward and the vast Chinese countryside offers them an affordable alternative to traditional deskbound roles.

Some are being inspired by people like rural lifestyle vlogger Li Ziqi, who has captured the world's attention by portraying the ideal rural life - civilized, peaceful, and poetic.

Another huge push factor has been the rise in the cost of living as the pandemic cast a shadow over urban employment. Faced with these uncertainties, the appeal of big cities like Beijing and Shanghai is fading for young people.

Tang Xinchen used to work for TikTok's parent company ByteDance as a product manager, but in 2022 he chose to return home to be a farmer.

"I yearned for a life where I don't have to work overtime every day, and I'd be able to see the sunset on time. Also, I'm fed up with the cramped rental flat," said Tang.

In the last decade, the number of rural migrants under the age of 30 living away from their hometowns almost halved and over 12 million young people chose to return home to start businesses. But there are also practical reasons that make rural life more attractive – and that's about the pace of modernization in rural China.

The changing countryside

China's sustained economic boom, coupled with wealth redistribution through the government's rural revitalization policies, has significantly upgraded rural life.

Many areas enjoy new homes, water and energy supplies while large infrastructure projects have brought 5G connectivity, bridges, roads, high-speed trains and regional airports to bridge the gap between cities, towns and the villages.

Digitization has arrived in rural China and internet use has doubled in a decade, with 60 percent of rural residents active online in 2023. And the young rural recruits are also changing the countryside.

The new farmers are embracing the internet enthusiastically, using e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com - the world's largest rural e-commerce network - to market directly to consumers.

Live streaming is being used to bridge the gap between marketing and reality TV as entrepreneurs show their products over the internet. Using just a smartphone and WiFi connectivity, they can demonstrate products and answer questions from the audience in real time, creating their very own shopping channels.

It has proved extremely popular in China, with a user base of 765 million in 2023 making the sector a lucrative business for many.

Sun Lei, a young Chinese returning to the countryside, had his life transformed when his video selling Gannan navel oranges went viral.

"Every day there's someone asking me 'Are there any more oranges?'," he says.

The e-commerce world has been surprised by the rise in popularity of farmer livestreamers. According to China's Ministry of Commerce, in 2021 there were over 16 million online rural businesses and stores - three-quarters of the national total.

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Cashing in on this trend, Taobao - one of the country's biggest ecommerce platforms - is encouraging farmer sellers by setting up training courses on its platform. Also, Taobao's parent company, Alibaba, has announced a "poverty alleviation program" for rural sellers including "incubating 1,000 farmer livestreams."

There, returning young entrepreneurs choosing to relocate are not just farmers: they work in tourism, open up B&Bs, rejuvenate heritage crafts or renovate ancient villages.

Whether rural migration represents a long-standing structural change or a blip caused by an economic downturn is yet to be seen. But there is no doubt that the government infrastructure programs and the attitudes of Generation Z are helping to reshape China's social geography and giving people the choice of a rural or urban lifestyle.

Supervisor: Mei Yan

Chief Editor: Qian Fang

Presenter: Li Jianhua

Producer: Li Ningning

Camera: Tom Triebel

Video Editing: Li Ningning, Tom Triebel

Script Editor: Elizabeth Mearns

Motion Graphics: Butchy Davy, James Sandifer, Ilze Juhnevica

Copy Editor: Gary Parkinson