TV show's rural charm

"Sometimes when you fail to come around to an idea, maybe nature can help straighten you out," says Jia.

So far, the celebrities have visited tranquil villages in Xishuang Banna and the county town of Tengchong in Southwest China's Yunnan province with the show's production unit.

Yuan Baili, director of the show, explains her reasons for choosing the two locations.

"Xishuang Banna boasts various tropical fruits and the unique culture of the Dai ethnic group, while Tengchong features a sea of cole flowers and magnificent snowcapped mountains," says Yuan. "Imagine what an idyllic life it is when farmers are cultivating the land in such picturesque villages."

In Tengchong's Shajiaba village, the celebrities lived in a simply decorated farmhouse with a big yard where they fed cows and pigs in their pens, and cooked meals using an outdoor stove that needed to be heated by burning wood, crop residue or charcoal.

Yuan also says she hopes that, by immersing these celebrities in such bucolic surroundings, the show can help vitalize the development of rural tourism and promote the agricultural products that abound in these locations, such as pineapples, bananas, honey and organic vegetables.

Yang Xingzhong, head of the Shajiaba village, says he plans to eventually turn the farmhouse used by the entertainers into a hostel.

"Cole seed oil provides a major source of the village's income," says Yang. "Through the show, audiences will get some idea of the beautiful sights here and they may then wish to come and see it for themselves, enabling us to explore a new way to fuel the economic development of the village."

In recent years, reality shows that focus on leisurely pastoral lifestyles have become increasingly popular among Chinese viewers.

For instance, the second season of the show Back to Field, which relocates a group of celebrities to a rural household in Tonglu county in East China's Zhejiang province, has notched up over 2 billion hits on MGTV's streaming platform, according to box-office tracker Maoyan.

Hong Yi, a white-collar worker based in Beijing, is an avid watcher of such reality shows.

The 24-year-old says the programs help urban residents to relax and enjoy the pleasure of going back to nature.

"We often face, or have become part of, the 'phubbing' phenomenon (being snubbed in favor of scrolling through a phone) in our daily life, so I'm really touched when I see the participants of the show sitting around a small table and chatting with one another cheerfully in a place with fresh air, green fields and clear lakes," says Hong. "To feel a strong bond with people in such a social setting is the life that I yearn for."