The Guardian view on rural China: urbanites contemplate an escape to the country | Editorial

"People gone; buildings empty: this is the fact of daily life in the countryside, lamented the author Liang Hong in her bestselling account China in One Village. It was a grim portrait of her home town its vitality ebbing as the forces of modern life drained it of young people, polluted its water, exploited its resources and even turned the local school into a pigsty."

"As urban China prospered with the Communist party's turn to the market, 350 million villagers migrated to the cities, leaving behind increasingly desolate settlements. Now Beijing is promoting rural revitalisation. State media run a steady stream of articles lauding city dwellers who have returned to their home towns to set up cafes or run home-stays. The expansion of transport and telecommunications infrastructure has allowed rural inhabitants to expand their horizons."

"First came the Taobao villages, where at least a 10th of households were using Alibaba's e-commerce platform. More recently, farmers have taken to livestreaming selling fruit or flowers direct to urbanites. The push factors are equally potent. Disenchanted urbanites tired of the pressures of city life are seeking to take it easier in the countryside, just as hippies in the west rejected their parents' materialistic dreams in the 1960s."

Villages across China have emptied as 350 million rural residents migrated to cities, leaving desolate settlements, polluted water, exploited resources and neglected infrastructure. Rural vitality declined, schools fell into disrepair and families fractured as the hukou system forced parents to leave children with grandparents. Migrant remittances had been critical to rural incomes. Beijing now promotes rural revitalisation, encouraging returnees to open cafes, homestays and other enterprises. Expanded transport and telecommunications enabled Taobao villages and livestreaming sales that connect farmers to urban consumers. Urban disillusionment, youth unemployment and an ageing population drive some city dwellers to pursue rural entrepreneurship.

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