Teachers and students from China Agricultural University conducted research in ten villages in five provinces across the country to understand the real thoughts of farmers in rural revitalization

Go to the countryside and listen to the voices of neglected farmers

"What do you think is ecologically livable?" "What do you think the revitalized countryside looks like?" In May 2021, more than 5 teachers and students from China Agricultural University started a special survey in a village in the north, and they spent nearly two years trying to understand the real thoughts of farmers in the surging rural revitalization.

Starting from the bookish question, they lived with farmers in ten villages in five provinces across the country, learned the expressions of farmers, adjusted the way of questionnaires and interviews little by little, and went into the countryside step by step to investigate, analyze, understand the countryside, and understand the rural revitalization in the eyes of the farmers.

First encounter with an 80-year-old farmer

As the afternoon sun shone through the spacious doorway, an eighty-year-old couple sat in the shade, and they had just returned home from work in the field to eat lunch when they welcomed young students who had entered the household to investigate.

The 80-year-old couple, met by Dong Yilin, a doctoral student at China Agricultural University, in a second village in an eastern county, planted three or four acres of land, and his wife would take on some piecework work in the town's small workshop. They are in good health, there is enough food in the field to feed themselves, and in their spare time, they will clean up their small yard.

This was the first time Dong Yilin met an agricultural producer over the age of eighty, and although she had also conducted research in the countryside many times during her undergraduate and master's degrees, she was still shocked by the hard work and optimism of the old couple. Dong Yilin said that she had read many articles in Beijing saying that in the countryside, the security function of land is constantly weakening, but when she really comes to the countryside, she knows that even if only a small number of people are still relying on the land for their livelihood, the security function of land is indispensable. "We have talked to many left-behind elderly people about the food problem, and one old man told us that there are still so many people in the villages, if they can grow food to feed themselves, the country's food pressure will be much less."

What does the countryside look like in the eyes of farmers? Perhaps land is the best entry point to understand them, Chen Nuo, a doctoral student at China Agricultural University who also participated in the research, once interviewed an old man who returned to his hometown, this 60-year-old man worked in Beijing for 30 years, and after the age of 60, it was difficult to find work again, so he returned to his hometown to farm, "This is a completely different situation from our understanding of retirement, I remember it very clearly, he answered a phone call during the interview, and told the person on the other end of the phone that it is difficult to find a job after returning home, and there is very little work."

Sixty years old means that they can get a rural pension of more than 100 yuan a month, but at the same time, they face a sharp reduction in employment opportunities, "It may be difficult for people in the city to imagine that employment should be considered after the age of sixty, but in the countryside, as long as the physical strength can keep up, they must continue to work to earn money, because livelihood is more important." ”

Start with a most ordinary village

This research project called "Rural Revitalization from the Perspective of Farmers" began to be prepared in March 2021, when more than 3 teachers and students of China Agricultural University went to the village, where they lived in villagers' homes and lived with villagers, observing and understanding the real lives and ideas of farmers.

Liu Juan, an associate professor at China Agricultural University, was one of the leaders of the team's research. Liu Juan studied at China Agricultural University, then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and visiting scholar in the Netherlands, the United States, Spain and other places, and returned to China Agricultural University to engage in agricultural and rural sociology research. She participated in the whole process of the project, from preliminary preparation, to the selection of research objects, to the village and household research, and finally to organize materials and write articles.

Liu Juan told reporters that during the trial investigation, they chose a familiar county, and the county cadres did not understand their original intentions, and recommended to them the two villages that did the best in the county. "Developing better cases does have its value, but it is very different from the purpose of our survey." In the end, they did not go to the two villages recommended by the county, but found two other more ordinary villages.

What kind of village is an ordinary village? A village that is exploring the road to revitalization, without government-focused projects, without countless cadres and young people entering the village, without large enterprises setting up industries here, and most of the work must be done by themselves, such a village may be the universal representative of hundreds of thousands of villages in China. Dong Yilin told reporters that in the first village they tried to investigate in Hebei, they could not find a place where the researchers could stay, and the houses of the farmers were not very large, most of them were just enough for their own families, so they had to go to the next village to find a place to live.

Learn to communicate in a farmer's way

Living in the village only narrows the distance between the space, and they have to learn how to truly live like farmers.

When participating in the team research, Zhang Sen just got the admission notice for doctoral students, and followed his teacher and classmates into the village. Zhang Sen has no experience of living in the countryside, and although he has done a lot of rural research during his undergraduate and master's degrees, he still has to learn how to deal with farmers.

In a once poor village, an old man in his seventies chatted with Zhang Sen for a long time, Zhang Sen has been trying to communicate with the old man according to the content of the pre-designed questionnaire, but most of the time, the old man is complaining to him in his own care, the son of the old man gambled in his early years, owed a lot of debts, poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, the village provided a lot of help to the elderly, the old man is very grateful, but it is still difficult to completely solve the problems in the old man's home.

Talking to villagers is not easy, more often than not, they need to follow the farmers to the fields and complete interviews in the fields. Chen Nuo once talked with a farmer in the field for a long time, and that time, when she was about to go into the house to interview, she found that there was no one in the house, and they all went to the field, so she found the field, sat on the field and chatted with the other party, "The farmer interviewed was hoeing grass in the field, and then he talked to me in the field all morning." ”

Liu Juan told reporters that in the survey, boys will take the initiative to help farmers work, which is the best way for them to get farmers' recognition. And the girls also have their own methods, Dong Yilin said, "When researching in a village, in order to better mingle with the villagers, we will talk to those aunts and grandmothers about their Douyin works." Many women use TikTok to record their songs, dances, and even imitation shows. By browsing their works and exchanging their interest in entertainment, we can quickly get closer to them and conduct a smooth questionnaire. ”

Meet real farmers in the countryside

In May and June 2021, during which more than 5 teachers and students interviewed nearly 6 people in different places in five provinces, each interviewee had to conduct at least one and a half to two hours of interviews, and the longest interview lasted for three days.

Farmers living in different environments and different villages, each of them has their own ideas, Liu Juan told reporters, farmers are more willing to use a perceptive, experiential method to express their views and ideas about the village and the future. "Their expressions, usually do not have a lot of imaginary content, ideas are often related to their own experience, for example, when we interviewed in a village, their next door village is a key village, built very well, they feel that rural revitalization, should be like that, but they understand that their village is not a key village, it is difficult to get the same resources and support."

After the interview every day, teachers and students who returned to their residences would gather together, share what they saw and heard, and discuss the content of the interview, so as to inspire and corroborate each other, "Personal expression, the angle is often relatively single, combined, is more likely to get the full picture of the matter," Liu Juan said, "This kind of exchange is sometimes long, but it must be, students will summarize the most emotional things of the day, in one or two sentences, write them on a note, and then paste them on the wall and discuss them together." ”

On the small notes, the students and teachers who investigated left moments that touched them. "The first villager I interviewed was a village official who talked about collective debt, and he told me that the village collective was in debt to develop the plantation industry, and the fruit trees planted had not yielded for several years, and when the fruit was just hanging up, there was a hailstorm. There is no income, but the circulation fee for the transfer of peasants' land and the cost of hiring people to manage it cannot be less, and the pressure is particularly great. ”

In another village, during an interview with a left-behind woman, Liu Juan came across a similar topic, the left-behind woman told her, "In the village, when the village chief or even the group leader shouted, everyone took the initiative to do it, and no one talked about money, but now, whether it is the sorting out of the village or the management of collective industries, it takes money to hire people, and no one will do it for free." These materials eventually became the materials for Liu Juan and their investigation of rural employees, "In the villages, including collective work, red and white happy events, etc., the past mutual aid is gradually evolving into hired workers, which used to be considered a change in habits, but in fact, we found that farmers do not consider themselves to be the main body of rural development." ”

Live well without illness and debt

In the questionnaire of the survey, there is a question, "How do you understand living a rich life?" Chen Nuo told reporters that he once thought that most people's answer might be to have more money, "but in the survey, we found that only a small number of people think that living a rich life means having more money." Most peasants have a simple view of prosperity beyond our imagination, believing that without illness and debt, they are living prosperously. This also reflects that medical care is still the first priority in farmers' public service needs, because "many peasant families are in debt, often because of the heavy medical burden." Chen Nuo said.

In the past two months, Zhang Sen interviewed many young people who returned to their hometowns, including village cadres, young people who returned to their hometowns to start businesses, and he remembered a young man who returned from Shenzhen to develop ecological rice in the village, who originally worked as a manager in an electronics factory in Shenzhen and developed well, and then returned to his hometown to start a business, transferring the villagers' land and planting ecological rice. "These young people who have returned to their hometowns, who have seen the outside world and have enough experience and vision, return to the village with hope when they see an opportunity in the village, but the reality is far less beautiful than they imagined." Zhang Sen told reporters that when the young man was working outside, the child stayed in the village, and he thought that he could live with his family after returning, but when he returned, the child chose a school to enter the county because of schooling, and his family also studied in the city, still living a life of separation between the two places. In fact, his own industry also has many difficulties in development, "he grows ecological rice and runs his father's handmade oil mill, but he finds it much harder for these products to enter the formal market." ”

In a research village, a master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences rented land in his hometown to grow apples, and the farmers in the village couldn't figure out why they came back to farm, Dong Yilin told reporters, when we were in the village, some farmers told me, "We are embarrassed to ask him, can you help us ask him, why do you come back to farm." ”

Zhang Sen told reporters, "Many farmers think that rural revitalization needs people, but they will never want their children and families to return to their hometowns." A young mother, who originally worked outside the home, but later quit her job to return to her hometown to study with her children, told me that she was under a lot of pressure, both financial and educational, and what she hoped most was that her children could really get out of the mountains, but she herself was not capable of tutoring her children. ”

People are changing rapidly in the countryside

"When we were researching in a village, we stayed in the village committee, and we found that at night, especially on holidays, the steps on the first floor of the village committee were shining brightly, and many children gathered there, each with a mobile phone in his hand, playing games there, because the village committee had wireless Internet. In fact, we have long known that many children are addicted to games, and some primary and secondary school teachers have told us that mobile phones are half a student's life, but only when we really see it, we know what that scene is like. Liu Juan said.

In the big era of rural revitalization, the countryside is changing, and the people living in the countryside are also changing, and the people who enter the countryside and understand the countryside are also being changed by the countryside.

Going to the countryside, for the teachers and students of the agricultural university, is not only a survey, they are in the countryside, what they have to do is far beyond the subject, "We don't want to just turn the countryside into a place to obtain information and data, and strive to establish a more permanent and stable connection with the countryside, so our team and our college are also deeply cultivated in many villages across the country, long-term action practice, only in this way, our research and education can be truly integrated into the countryside, but also more deeply into the practice of rural revitalization." Because only in the countryside, only with them, can you know what they really want and what they really want to say. Liu Juan said.

Ye Jingzhong:

Approaching the farmers, understanding the farmers, telling the farmers

Since March 2021, Ye Jingzhong, Dean of the College of Humanities and Development of China Agricultural University, has led a team of more than 3 people to conduct long-term research in ten villages in five provinces and ten villages in China, approaching farmers, listening to farmers, and constantly telling about farmers. Recently, based on more than two years of research, the team released a number of results. A reporter from the Beijing News talked to Ye Jingzhong, who said, "Among our survey subjects, the vast majority of farmers do not consider themselves to be the protagonists of rural revitalization, and believe that rural revitalization depends on external forces such as the government." ”

Find the problem and face it squarely in order to better move forward

Beijing News: Why did you conduct such a survey?

Ye Jingzhong: There is a phenomenon that we have been paying attention to, that is, in the general trend of rural development, the voice of the peasants themselves is often very weak. As early as the end of 2005, when the state proposed the construction of a new socialist countryside, all over the country, including Beijing, held meetings and discussions, and the voices of the people were in full swing, but the expression of the peasants was lacking. In 2017, the state proposed a rural revitalization strategy. As of June 2022, various departments at the national level have issued more than 6 policies on rural revitalization, and 160,11 relevant literature can be searched on CNKI, but what do farmers think? What they think about rural revitalization, what they want to say, still has not been heard.

Beijing News: What kind of methods did you use in the survey?

Ye Jingzhong: Our research is problem-oriented, not that rural revitalization has not achieved success. Whether it is poverty alleviation or rural revitalization, we have made great achievements in the past few years. But this does not mean that everything is perfect and there are no problems. Only by finding the problem and facing it squarely can we better continue to move forward. This is also an important reason why the state currently advocates the style of large-scale investigation and research, and repeatedly emphasizes the need to adhere to the problem orientation.

Beijing News: What problems affecting rural revitalization were found in the survey, and are you also trying to find ways to solve them?

Ye Jingzhong: We don't expect to find all the problems, and the problems found may not be comprehensive. People often ask me, if you find a problem, is there a solution? I think this is actually difficult, many problems are caused by comprehensive factors, and it is difficult for researchers to provide an immediate solution to them.

Beijing News: In the survey, what questions impressed you?

Ye Jingzhong: In the survey on who mainly depends on rural revitalization, 83.9%, 66.2%, 62.6% and 83.5% of farmers respectively believe that the prosperity of industry, ecological livability, civilized rural customs, and effective governance depend on external subjects such as the government. Farmers generally believe that the government is the main body of rural revitalization, whether it is industrial development and village construction, or rural style construction and village governance, it depends on the government's money and policies. The peasants said, "Rural revitalization means that the state takes money for rural construction."

Many farmers think that they do not have the ability and insight to achieve rural revitalization, and many feel that they cannot do anything without the support of the government. Some farmers said that in order to realize rural revitalization, the state should be the master, and the peasants are supporting roles, just playing a helping role.

Beijing News: In the survey, do all farmers consider themselves to be supporting roles?

Ye Jingzhong: In our survey, we selected five different provinces, namely one leading area for rural revitalization, two key districts, two fortification areas, and two villages in each province. In different regions, farmers' understanding of rural revitalization is very different, such as leading districts and key areas, where the government played a great role in driving in the past, and cadres played a greater role in rural development, so farmers naturally believe that the government and cadres are more important. Compared with the leading areas and key areas, more farmers in the fortified areas believe that rural revitalization depends on the farmers themselves.

Practical problems such as employment, education and medical care restrict the return of young people to their hometowns

Beijing News: Are there any phenomena that surprise you?

Ye Jingzhong: In our research, we found that in the past 82 years, the people who have farmed the land are actually a group of people, <> years ago, they were <> or <> years old, <> years later, they were <> or <> years old, and some were even older. Who will farm in the future? This is a problem that many people have talked about, but this phenomenon can only be felt in the countryside for a long time. When I was researching in Shandong, I met an elderly couple who were <> years old and still farming, and this impact was impossible to feel while sitting in the office and looking at the data.

Beijing News: What was the status of some young people who returned to their hometowns back then?

Ye Jingzhong: Farmers generally believe that there is a shortage of young people in rural areas, and rural revitalization needs young people. However, in our survey, 48.3% of farmers clearly expressed that they did not want their families to return to their hometowns for development.

Practical problems such as employment, education and medical care restrict the return of young people to their hometowns. We have a survey on what pressures farmers face, and health care is the first problem in farmers' lives. Education is second, with only half of the ten villages having kindergartens and none having a complete primary school. Third, among the 212 farmers over 60 years old, 70.3% are in a state where only the elderly live together or live alone, and the care of the elderly and disabled elderly faces a big gap, "more than 70 years old still have to work, more than 80 years old still have to farm, more than 100 yuan pension can not be old-aged."

Beijing News: How do the young people who return to their villages solve these problems?

Ye Jingzhong: Many reports show the feelings and careers of the young people who have returned to their hometowns, and the changes they have brought to the village. But if you analyze it carefully, what are the young people who have returned home? College student cadres and young entrepreneurs, they each have different circumstances, but most of them have the situation of "returning but not entering", young entrepreneurs work and life are separated, they work in the countryside, but live mostly in the town.

Beijing News: How to make this situation and voice known to more people?

Ye Jingzhong: We finally completed 529 questionnaires, 154 in-depth interviews, and the interview records were 156.<> million words. Then, through collation, analysis and summary, a series of achievements were formed, which will be publicly released. Anyone can see it. We also want to tell their stories in more places. As we do in research and teaching, we approach farmers, get to know farmers, and then tell about farmers. Let this group that has collectively lost its voice in the tide of rural revitalization be seen and heard.

(Beijing News reporter Zhou Huaizong)