Chinese college graduates eschew urban life for farming

With much of the world focused on China’s booming tech sector, newly graduated Chinese students are looking outside the box — and the city — for work. Rising unemployment rates and fierce urban job competition have inspired a trend toward farming among young, often university-educated, job seekers.

‘Rural revitalization’

“For decades,” urban life has been a “defining feature of the Chinese economic miracle,” said the Los Angeles Times. But “declining job prospects in the cities” and government efforts to “lift up rural areas” have prompted a shift in recent years.

The change comes as President Xi Jinping has promoted “rural revitalization” as a “cornerstone of his national development policy to mitigate income inequality, stimulate local economies and guarantee the food supply,” said the Los Angeles Times. Local governments are also “jumping on the new farmer trend,” said The New York Times, by offering tax breaks and loans to “entice young people.”

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‘This is not tourism’

This spring, sheep farmer Zuo Xiaoyong’s job posting for shepherds in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia “quickly turned into a viral phenomenon,” said NBC News. The post earned “millions of views and hundreds of applications” from a generation “eager to escape the stresses of urban life.” While the monthly salary — roughly $1,200 USD — may be high, “whether you can work long-term and get through the winter is what matters most,” said Zuo to Reuters. “This is not tourism.”

Older generations are “still stuck in the mindset” that agrarian life is “all about breaking your back in the dirt,” said farmer and recent college graduate Wang Hongbo to the Times. But Wang has incorporated drones and AI into his family’s farm in an effort to modernize and economize the work.