返鄉日記 (f?nxiāng rìjì): Diaries about rural hometowns

A Tibetan farmer works in a barley field in Nedong county, Shannan prefecture, Tibet. [Photo By Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily]

During this Spring Festival, many people went back to their rural hometowns for the weeklong holiday and described what they saw and felt in online "diaries".

The writers of these reports were born and grew up in the rural areas, but now live in cities. They have experienced life in both urban and rural areas, and so are able to comment on the differences and the changes taking place in their hometowns.

Some of them described the destitution, dispiritedness and decadence in poverty-stricken rural areas, triggering worries about the future of China's vast countryside and hundreds of millions of rural people.

But while the posts no doubt reflect the true feelings of the writers and their own perspectives, they can hardly portray a complete picture of countryside. After all they don't live in the countryside nowadays, and the situation in China's rural areas is very diverse.

Observation, analysis and reflection on the rural areas is of great significance to China's social development, but we should pay attention to the perspective of rural residents, as well.