[Video] The call of the Chinese countryside

From immersive “a day in the countryside life” vlogs to informative farming tutorials and cultural insights, Douyin reported 1.02 billion rural-themed videos in 2023, accumulating 24 trillion views and 53 billion likes. Similarly, the bustling and glamorous urban life no longer monopolises attention in China’s film and TV industry. Instead, there’s a growing focus on portraying a therapeutic and calming slow-paced alternative in the countryside.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, between 2012 and 2022,12.2 million people returned to the countryside as entrepreneurs. And the countryside received 172 million tourist trips during this year’s Labour Day holiday alone. The countryside’s appeal extends to e-commerce and livestreaming. In 2023, online retail sales in rural China reached 2.5 trillion RMB, nearly 13 times the amount in 2014.

Chinese platforms’ focus on rural initiatives is closely tied to the nation’s rural revitalisation efforts. Since 2017, Douyin’s initiatives like “Rural Guardians” and “Rural Products on Headlines” have supported rural content creators and products. Kuaishou is also investing 10 billion units of data traffic and 50 million RMB to nurture one million village streamers and 1,000 rural entrepreneurs over the next three years. Introduced in 2019, Village CEOs play a crucial role too in driving rural redevelopment by managing various aspects of a village’s agricultural and economic activities.

While the countryside offers a wealth of opportunities, challenges persist, such as inadequate infrastructure and limited career progression paths. Will the countryside become a paradise for the youths in the future?

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