Young urbanites are abandoning business suits in favor of country casuals as they seek to maintain the farming 'culture'. Christine Low reports.

Dressed in a beanie paired with a striped, collared shirt and horn-rimmed glasses, Zhang Meng looked more like a rapper than a young farmer as he stood by his stall at the F2N market at the Kerry Center in downtown Beijing selling organically grown produce.

Twice a week, the 27-year-old, who completes his hip-hop look with earrings that stretch his ear lobes, visits the capital's downtown to sell fresh vegetables from his farm. However, most days he toils on the land in suburban Shunyi district.

While most people see moving to the city as a form of upward mobility, Zhang is among a small group who are moving to the countryside to become farmers and enjoy a better quality of life. At a time when many villages lack young blood, farmers such as Zhang seem like a much-needed boost to village life that is rejuvenating the farming "culture".

After studying at university and taking jobs in the city while still a student, Zhang decided that urban life was not for him. So, after graduation, he moved to the outskirts.

"When I was at university, I really wanted to be an entrepreneur," he said. "So, I stayed in a small house by myself. When I was not in school, I would stay in that small house and plant vegetables to eat. After that, I felt there was a possibility it could be a good project and I should head to the countryside to do something like that. It would be very meaningful."

This role is not unfamiliar to Zhang. He grew up on his grandfather's farm in Mentougou district in rural Beijing, so transitioning to country life was not a problem. However, he said it is not easy to be a farmer in a place like Beijing. Some problems such as financing, farming techniques and marketing on social media can be hard to overcome. Despite the challenges, he is one of several young farmers who see value in maintaining the rural culture.

Trading places

For a large part of his life, 34-year-old Wang Xin lived in suburban Tongzhou district. His university studies, involving landscaping and plants, eventually led to a job, so he moved to the city, just like many young people. However, the stresses of city life overwhelmed him, so he packed up and left for the countryside.

"In the city, I had to travel on the subway for two hours every morning. At night, I spent another two hours on the subway," he said. "Then I had to work overtime and stare at a computer every day. I couldn't continue like that anymore, so I needed to change my life."

As Wang liked plants, he decided to farm so he could get closer to them. Now, the former landscape designer is settled at a farm in Daxing district and is well-known at the Beijing Farmers' Market for the quality of his strawberries.

Unlike Zhang and Wang, Ding Jiazi has spent a large part of her life in cities. The 33-year-old also spent nine years studying and working in the United States before returning to China. However, after working for two years in Beijing, she called it quits last year and left to attend a farming school. Now, she works with a group of young farmers at an orchard.

"From the beginning, I paid close attention to organic produce," said Ding, when asked how she got into farming. "I liked to browse shops that sold organic goods. At the time, I was working in the US and I liked to go to places like Wholefoods (a well-known superstore). I felt that the items at those places were really delicious. I felt closer to the land, and I could understand something more about nature by buying such organic products."

It was not a difficult decision to leave her job and become a farmer, despite no previous experience of rural life. "Once I had carefully thought through my decision, I just stepped into it with little hesitation," she said.

Food safety

While the pressure of city life seems to be the major reason this new generation turned to farming, the motivation was different for those who came before. Nearly a decade ago, food security was a big issue in China and there was widespread concern about food safety, which led to people like Qi Jing becoming interested.

"At the time, a new movement started in China," said Qi, a 40-something who works in the interior design industry while also managing a farm. "Then, a lot of small and independent farms and farmers' markets started appearing, so I decided to try to do it, too."

Eight years ago, Guo Shengnan, who lives in an urban area in Hebei province, started a farm with two friends.

"We decided to start our own farm so our children and families could eat safe vegetables and eggs, and to have a piece of land with clean soil to embrace nature and have a happy life," said Guo, who gives lessons about agriculture to city families who have registered with her farm's membership program. Occasionally, she visits the capital to participate in activities organized by the Beijing Farmers' Market.

Even before food security became a nationwide concern, Zhang Zhimin had been a farmer for more than 10 years. Before she made her life-changing decision, she had worked in international trade for a long time. Her deep knowledge of the import sector and understanding of the difficulties farmers face were among the many reasons that led her to become a farmer.

"At that crucial point in time, my specialized knowledge of imports helped break a roadblock (regarding the World Trade Organization)," she said. "After the breakthrough, China was able to smoothly join the WTO. However, there were also some people who believed that opening up the market would lead farmers to suffer, so I felt quite guilty.

"I have always helped farmers to sell their produce, and they are a vulnerable group in society. They are poor and lead hard lives. So, if China joined the WTO and their lives became even harder, then I would have some responsibility for that, too."

Her job was not the only thing she left behind in Beijing, as her husband and then-12-year-old son remained in the city. Fortunately, they both fully supported her decision.

Her conviction is so strong that even when she ran into difficulties in 2005 and had to go back to full-time employment for three years, she returned to farming once she had earned enough to keep the farm afloat.

"Farming is a kind of art. It needs talent," she said. "It doesn't matter where you were born or the type of family you were born into to farm well. As long as it is an art, you will need talent, affection and dedication; then can you do this art well."

Interaction

Farmers' lives are hard for many reasons, so it is unlikely that droves of tired city dwellers will migrate to the countryside anytime soon. Still, city people seek and appreciate a taste of farm life and enjoy visiting the countryside on weekends with their families.

Zhang Meng organizes at least one event on his Shunyi farm every season, attracting sizable crowds. In addition to showing children how food is grown, he brews his own beer for the events and invites bands to perform, which reflects his hippie nature.

Chung Hsueh-ling, a 50-something Taiwan native, runs a farm in Beijing's Changping district with her husband. She estimates that about 60 families rent vegetable plots there every year, and she welcomes customers any day of the week.

"I like them to come to my farm, because it is easy to say a lot of nice things about it. But if you come, you can experience it for yourself and see whether you like it or not," she said.

On the morning of Nov 3, staff members from two schools led two groups of young students and their parents on a tour of Chung's farm. Dressed in cute Halloween costumes, the young visitors followed the tour guides, learning about the different types of vegetables grown at the farm, pulling the largest cabbage heads out of the soil, and cutting fresh sugarcane and pushing the stems through a hand-powered machine to extract the juice.

Amid the bustle, Luo Dan worked quietly on her small vegetable plot in a corner of the farm. She is one of Chung's long-time customers and has rented a plot for more than three years.

"The motivation for renting a vegetable plot is to give my child a well-rounded education," Luo said. "We often do simple things like sowing seeds, harvesting produce and experiencing the cycle of the seasons, so my child will become attuned to nature and will also gain a good perception of it."

However, it is difficult for many city people to maintain a rented vegetable plot. Zhang Zhengang, who frequents Chung's farm with his 8-year-old son, said: "Most people still only come for the experience. To actually farm your own plot takes up a lot of time. Children in China are having a tough time (in terms of educational pressures and extracurricular classes), so they probably don't have a lot of free time."

Luo, who visits her plot at least once a week to work or allow her son to play on the land, agreed. "This is really normal; every family's priorities are different. We have already formed a habit by coming to the farm regularly," she said.

Despite the many challenges facing the urbanites-turned-farmers, none has regretted the rural migration.

Wang completed a three-year apprenticeship under accomplished farmers after he experienced failure in his first year, and his parents still disapprove of his choice to this day. Despite that, he is undeterred.

"From the start to this day, my parents have been really against this," he said. "Compared with my previous job, this is definitely more laborious and the income is not as good－that's how they see it." Fortunately for Wang, his income has risen in the past few years.

Ding was luckier in that her parents and friends were mostly supportive of her decision to turn to agriculture.

"They didn't oppose it," she said, when asked about her parents' reaction. "They are more curious about what farming is about, as they have not tried it before."

Several of Zhang Meng's customers have urged him to reconsider his current lifestyle choice, asking him to seriously evaluate how it will affect his family in the future.

However, the father of a 4-year-old is keen to continue because he wants to do something he believes is worthwhile. His customers are another reason he wants to continue.

"I have been in a dilemma several times. There are a lot of times when I don't want to do it anymore because there are a lot of complicated problems. Even though it's been going very well, I am already 27. I don't have accumulated wealth. Though I live a more leisurely life than people leading fast-paced lives in the city, I also have tough times. Accumulating wealth takes too long," he said.

"This profession needs young people to join in. If they don't, it (farming culture) is not possible. Young people need to join in to make it like other jobs with a stable income and a normal work-life balance, and at the same time healthier than other jobs. Then, more young people will choose the profession. If this can't be done, no one will do it. If no one does this, it will represent the decline of farming (culture)."