Young people return home to start new businesses

Deng Xudong expected to have a more leisurely life after he quit his job in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and moved back to his home village of Qingxi in Hunan province.

But like other young entrepreneurs who return to their hometowns in the country after working in big cities, he has been as busy as ever managing the family business that he started in 2020.

Previously, Deng, 31, ran a watch sales, repair and valuation business on WeChat.

"Managing my business in the metropolis meant I had no time to rest," he said.

When Deng returned to Qingxi he found that great changes had been taking place and that living conditions in the village had greatly improved.

"I decided to seize the opportunity and start my own business while still managing the WeChat account," he said.

In early 2020, a few businesses, such as tea houses, restaurants and hospitality enterprises, were promoted and opened in the village.

"Developing homogenous businesses is a waste of villagers' resources, so I turned to special agricultural products grown on the family farm, which was a pilot project at that time," Deng said.

The environmentally friendly farm produces tea, fruit, earthworms and poultry.

"We raise chickens under trees and feed the earthworms with the chicken droppings. Meanwhile, the chickens can also eat the high-protein earthworms, so this forms an ecological circle," he said.

The tea oil and eggs produced on the family farm always sell out and can only be ordered in advance, and at a higher price than comparable products, according to Deng.

By emphasizing the family farm and environmental aspects of the business, and ensuring only great-quality tea oil and eggs are produced, Deng is not short of customers. With the rich experience gained from managing his social media account, he also promotes the farm on the short-video platform Douyin.

Deng said farmers benefit from the model because "if consumers recognize the value of the farms, they will buy products no matter how expensive they are".

Like Deng, many young people have returned to the village to start their own businesses and have benefited through collaboration.

"I also recommend the homestays and restaurants opened by my former classmates in Qingxi while introducing my family farm in short videos," he said.

Many homestays in the village are formerly vacant houses that have been renovated.

"The hosts of these houses can attract tourists with a homemade bowl of porridge and can earn 300,000 yuan ($43,868) a year without leaving their families," Deng said.

He added that it takes longer for family farms to turn a profit than businesses in the tourism sector, as such farms see annual gross profits of lower than 200,000 yuan.