Looking to land an idyll job

After oxygenating the pond, the problem was solved, but two months later, there was a bigger issue. It was their first time harvesting the pond, and her father had estimated the total weight of the fish at more than 15,000 kilograms. In the end, there were just 300 kg of bighead carp.

"Where have all my fish gone? Where have all my fish gone?" her father keeps asking, in ever more exasperated tones, in her video of the incident.

After consulting experts and fish farmers and trying all kinds of avenues to find answers, Liao and her father were still puzzled as to why their pond had yielded so few fish. It turns out that there are many important parameters required for the water, and which matter a lot in aquaculture, such as its salinity, hardness and nitrite content.

As well as facing a lack of aquaculture knowledge and technology, their pig-rearing business also plunged into the red due to the decline in pig prices. Liao and her father bought 20 piglets for 12,546 yuan last year when the price was over 25 yuan per kilogram, but now that value has nosedived to about 16 yuan.

"Usually a pig will be sold after being raised for half a year, but now the low prices mean that our efforts are in vain. It is a lesson about the market that we have learned the hard way," Liao says.

From the perspective of making money, Liao doesn't think farming is a wise option for young people, because it is a long-term business which requires a lot of knowledge and hard work, but also a lot of upfront capital, for which there will be little return in the first few years.

"There is a profitable method that I think is viable for young people who are interested in the countryside. They can use their knowledge of technology like the internet, to help local farmers or companies run their businesses," she says, adding that young people with such skills usually have better choices.