Looking to land an idyll job

After investing more than 100,000 yuan ($13,700) since he rented the farmland last year, and reading many books on agriculture, Guo is in the early stages of navigating the various challenges through trial and error. In other words, his farm is still losing money, even though he only hires one villager to help tend the land.

Unlike a conventional farm, Guo is learning to manage soil nutrients without fertilizer and tackle weeds and insects without herbicides and insecticides.

As well as figuring out different strategies for cultivation on the farm himself, he has to develop marketing channels for his products. In March, he uploaded his first post on short-video platform Douyin to introduce his business. His account now has nearly 6,000 followers, which is way above his expectations. As people around him questioned his decision to till the land instead of riding a desk at some lucrative city job, his followers were there to encourage him, just like they did through hard times on the farm.

"Maybe it is because I've realized their dream life, one that they dare not pursue," Guo says.

Against the decadeslong trend of people migrating to cities, there is a new phenomenon, as seen on social media, a counterflow among the young generation, like Guo, who are moving to the countryside to adopt an agricultural lifestyle.

Data from Douyin shows that content related to farming garnered about 12.9 billion likes last year, with 54 percent of their creators being young people who used to work or study in cities.

Although still small in number, this group of young, educated people introduce the latest agricultural technology and bring fresh perspective to local economic development, indicating the potential for rural vitalization, according to a report released by the Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.