Digital natives go rural

College students swap city life for countryside fieldwork, testing how short videos and digital tools can boost village economies.

In the mountains of Yuanyang county in Southwest China's Yunnan province, renowned for its UNESCO-listed rice terraces, 18-year-old Wang Yilin is discovering rural realities that challenge her expectations.

A native of Yunnan and now an e-commerce major at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE), Wang came to the area hoping to apply digital tools to modernize agricultural sales.

"Reality turned out to be more complicated than I expected," Wang said. "While urban China thrives on smartphones and online shopping, many villages here are mostly inhabited by elderly residents who are unfamiliar with digital technology."

Though she grew up in the city, Wang feels a deep connection to the rural areas of her home province.

"My family comes from a farming background," she said. "I've always believed that applying my professional knowledge to help local communities would be meaningful."

Despite the challenges, Wang sees great potential in agricultural e-commerce — particularly through short video platforms that allow farmers to directly showcase their products to buyers.

"These platforms create new sales channels and help farmers better understand the market, which can reduce waste after harvest," she explained. "The key is to ensure the platforms are user-friendly and supported by sustainable operations."

Wang is one of over 1,800 SUFE students and faculty members participating in the university's "Thousand-Village Survey" program this year.

Now in its 18th year, the initiative has sent over 30,000 students to more than 14,500 villages across 34 provincial-level regions, generating approximately 13,000 research reports on agriculture, rural development, and farmers' livelihoods.

The 2025 survey focuses on enhancing China's agricultural strength. According to Zhang Jinhua, the program's chief expert and associate dean of SUFE's Institute of Urban-Rural Development, 733 groups have been dispatched nationwide.

Yuanyang's rice terraces, which are over 1,300 years old, represent a unique case study where tradition meets modernity.

These ancient terraces form an integrated agro-ecosystem combining forests, villages, and water systems. The multi-layered farming structure — using altitudinal gradients — supports crops like red rice that balance ecological preservation with economic benefits, while agro-tourism drives rural revitalization.

"Despite Yuanyang's agricultural progress in recent years, we see room for improvement in processing capabilities, industry profitability, planning services, and organizational structure," Zhang said.

"Our findings will provide recommendations to local authorities to support further agricultural development."

Shi Shuaiwei, a doctoral candidate in agricultural economics, emphasized the value of field research. While theoretical knowledge can be overly simplistic, real-world investigations reveal the complex, multifaceted challenges farmers actually face.