Precis

Working with a local crew, reporter Lydia Feng takes us into the lives of a student, a farmer and a shopkeeper - each forging their own path in a nation which increasingly values conformity over individualism.

Tutu – student
Tutu loves Voguing - the dance subculture born out of the queer scene in '80s New York City. A student in Shanghai, Tutu has embraced his Voguing 'House' as his new family.

"We all feel like we don't belong in this society. Growing up, I felt the oppression of traditional values trying to take hold of me...so a 'Voguing House' is something very important to me. It's a family I choose."

But outside this new family, Tutu feels like a misfit.

"All institutions ... They say you have to do something to fit their standard of 'good'. Society is the same. It judges you with its rules. But what if I don't think this is good? Why can't I be my own 'good' as long as I don't disturb others?"

Zhao Jia – farmer
31-year-old Zhao Jia had a Cadillac, an apartment in the city, and a career with China's largest private education company. She gave it all up - to be a farmer.

Jia is part of a group in China called fanxiang qingian or 'returning youth' - young Chinese turning their backs on the big city to re-embrace their hometowns.

She 'live-streams' her farming life and advertises her produce to more than half a million followers on TikTok and other platforms.

"When young people come back to do agriculture, we must distinguish ourselves from the older generation of farmers. Otherwise, there will be no point."

Jia's parents are farmers but she wants to manage the land differently, using fewer pesticides and herbicides and free-ranging her livestock.

Her mother isn't thrilled with her daughter's tree-change.

"My goal was to raise my children to be college students ... I felt sad when she told me she wanted to do agriculture ... I still think an office job is better."

Li Chuang – shopkeeper
At the age of 32, Li Chuang was feeling lost and suffering from anxiety. He left his job as an editor with a renowned publishing house and volunteered with Taoist monks on Wudang Mountain.

Returning to Beijing, he took over a small corner shop in the hutongs - the narrow alleyways of the old city where Chuang grew up. He's resisting the relentless pressure to achieve.

"There are people online telling me, 'You should feel sorry for letting your parents down and wasting the resources of our country. You got a master's degree with their support, but you end up running a corner store?!' It's like I should say sorry to the whole country."

Practising tai chi at his local park and playing music, Li Chuang is striving to find his own equilibrium. Life was tougher for his parents, he thinks, but also simpler.

"Their generation's way of thinking, formed in the context of collectivism ... Our generation is more pluralistic because we face more choices and we live in a more fragmented time. Both the opportunities and the challenges we face are probably greater than before."

Episode teaser: Chuang, Jia, Tutu intro

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Chinese youth are living in a brave new world. They’re richer, better educated, and more connected than ever before. But they’re also under constant pressure to compete and to conform.

00:10

CHUANG: There’s no way out. Even in the park, you can’t escape capitalism.

"WeChat incoming – 18 Yuan."

00:29

JIA: Will there be anyone left to do farm work?

00:38

TUTU: This society, it judges you with its rules.

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: We’ve collaborated with Chinese filmmakers to bring you three

00:43

Lydia to camera. Super:
Lydia Feng
Reporter

intimate stories of young people rejecting convention, testing the limits of their freedom, and trying to find their place in China’s future.  

00:51

Shanghai night skyline. Title:
China's Future

Music

01:02

Military cadets on bikes.
Super: Shanghai

01:09

Tutu in uniform

TUTU: Today, I woke up and went to have a little hair removal job done. Then I did some dancing. I hope the rehearsal goes well. I’ve been practising on my own every day.

01:44

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: University students return to campus after day one of junxun – the two weeks of compulsory military training that open the academic year.

02:02

Among them is a 20-year-old Social Studies major from faraway Guizhou province, Tutu.

02:15

Tutu walks

TUTU: I didn’t do any training. I just sat on the sideline. If they make me do any training, I’ll faint. I can’t be bothered. I’ve got a sick note, which makes it easier.

02:23

Tutu at Voguing Shanghai practising

02:44

Voguing Shanghai is a family of people who do voguing. Only a small number of people in China do voguing.

02:50

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Voguing is a subculture and a dance that emerged from New York City’s queer scene in the 1980s. Members of different ‘families’ or ‘houses’ compete in walk-offs and dance battles at voguing ‘balls’. House founders are known as ‘mothers’ and ‘fathers’.

03:02

TUTU: My house is called House of Cazul. It was founded in Brazil in 2015. In 2019 our Mother Lua came to China and started a new chapter here. We all feel we don’t belong in this society.

03:28

Tutu interview

Growing up, I felt the oppression of traditional values taking hold of me. I didn’t feel that close to my blood family. So a Voguing ‘House’ is very important to me. It’s a family I choose.

03:57

Tutu and others voguing rehearsal

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: In a week’s time, Tutu and his family will compete in the first major ballroom event of the year – the ‘Shanghai Baby’ voguing ball.

04:22

TUTU: We have to be well prepared because it’s such a huge occasion. We’ve been developing a show since February.

04:31

Tutu interview

There’ll be a runway for us to walk all the categories.

04:40

Tutu after rehearsal

I want to shine and earn a good reputation for my House. We want everyone to see us and think “Wow, Cazul is awesome!”

4:49

Jia examines dead piglet

05:01

Jia on phone

JIA: "A piglet died. Looks like the wound got infected after it was castrated. Should I leave it on the tray or just bury it?... Right… Ok, bye." Oh well, I should feed the pigs.

05:18

Jia feeds pigs

This one was born the day before yesterday. Look, mum is getting impatient. Hold on, I’m putting him back. Here you go! Right, let’s go.

05:47

Jia on farm with dogs

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: 31-year-old Zhao Jia had a Cadillac, an apartment in the city, and a career with China’s largest private education company. She gave it all up to be a farmer.

06:04

JIA: Look at my little chickens!

06:23

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Jia runs a 200-acre mixed farm in the hills of eastern Shandong province, with her husband Chen. 

06:26

She’s part of a divergent group of young Chinese, known as fanxiang qingnian or ‘returning youth’.  For decades, rural Chinese couldn’t wait to get out, as they sought work in the booming coastal cities. But some are now rejecting the costs and pressures of urban life, and returning home.

06:37

JIA: Yesterday it rained and we had a power cut in the afternoon.

07:06

Jia interview

It came back on at 9pm. The worst was last winter. We had no power for a whole month. We took our power banks to a neighbour’s house so we could charge our phones.

07:11

Jia carries dog and does live stream

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Unlike their parents, China’s new generation of farmers is armed with technology. But we’re not talking tractors.  The tool of choice for Returning Youth is the smartphone.

JIA: This is Tiechui. Did you hear her howling just now? She’s very shy.

07:27

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Jia live-streams her farming life and advertises her produce to more than half a million followers on Chinese TikTok.

JIA: Smile!

07:52

Thank you, Sansan. Everyone click ‘like’ on your screens. Those who don't follow me, follow me.

08:05

Jia filming kittens and dogs

I share my daily life, like weeding, catching pests and growing bok choy, and other videos about small animals on my farm. Once people get to know and trust me, they’ll put in an order.

08:16

Jia filming flowers

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Rural influencers like Jia are a blooming subset of China’s 200-billion-dollar livestreaming industry. In China, social media platforms like TikTok are seamlessly integrated with e-commerce, so farmers can sell their produce live to their followers.

08:34

Jia's TikTok videos

JIA: Photos can’t describe the flavour, but when you take a bite during a live stream, you can communicate the delicious taste and arouse that purchasing desire in the audience. I’m doing well these days. My weekly views have gone up by 11 million. 31,000 new followers. My profile got 680,000 more visits. My recent videos performed well.

09:00

Jia sets up camera

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Jia’s farm is in a region famous for cherries.  When she and her husband took over the property, it was suffering after years of intensive monoculture.

09:45

JIA: It’s like we took over a sick child and started nursing him. We made some bold moves, removing dozens of acres of cherry trees and planting vegetables.

10:01

Jia walks with dogs

When young people return to farming, we have to distinguish ourselves from the older generation, or there’s no point.

10:15

"The wind has blown over a lot of bok choy seedlings."  We still don’t make ends meet. "Hey, don’t step on my veggies!" That’s normal. In farming, it takes at least three years to break even.

10:25

Jia slashes weeds and feeds chickens

People on TikTok often tell me they want to be a farmer too because they have stressful lives. I tell them there’s no easy life. The pressure of running a farm is no less than your job. I'm an optimistic person. I’m a Christian. I believe God loves me very much and He helps me.

10:41

Jia in house. Wedding photo. Snake in bedroom

I’m happy to share my mistakes and experiences. I’ll share without reservation because I think China’s agriculture really needs young people.

11:20

Tutu packs for ball

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Shanghai’s summer chorus of cicadas fills the air as Tutu packs his things for the ball. 

11:57

TUTU: In high school I started growing my hair, wearing makeup, learning about the world. I felt like a misfit. When I could access the internet, I read online forums.

12:13

I learned about gay culture, comics and all kinds of subcultures. From then on, I started to think more and more differently to people around me.
"These are all eyeshadows."
My mum always knew.

12:33

Tutu applies makeup and sorts through jewellery

She accepts it, but she used to worry about me and still does. She worried I’d be bullied for my sexual orientation. But recently there was the news about all the LGBT social media groups being shut down. I shared that on my socials. Then my mum sent me a private message saying, “Things exist for a reason. Bullying will not destroy them.” I thought, hmm… maybe I can talk more to my mum about this stuff.

12:56

Tutu with other cadets

But with my dad it’s impossible to communicate. He has such typical thoughts and views of a Chinese man.

13:2941

[Banner translation]: Military training creates soaring aspirations!]

14:12

Cadets massed for training

COMMANDER: All rise! Look to the front! At ease! Attention!

TUTU: We all wear the same uniform, keep our hair short, walk in formation, learn the same things.

14:17

Tutu among mass of cadets

It’s so boring! I believe everyone can be different. They say you have to do something to fit their standard of ‘good’. But what if I don’t think this is good? Why can’t I be my own ‘good’ as long as I don’t disturb others?

14:50

COMMANDER: Please face the national flag and sing the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China.

15:16

Chuang climbs steps in snow

15:37

CHUANG: Going up to clear the snow. We’re living in a society that won't allow you to quit. If you perform well at high school, you have to go to university. If you do well at uni, you have to get a good job or master’s degree. Maybe in other countries you're allowed to dream of becoming a barber. But in our society that’s unacceptable because it means you’re deviating from the straight path to higher status. You become an oddball. 
"Almost at the top."

15:49

Chuang clearing snow from steps at monastery

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: At the age of 32, Li Chuang was feeling lost and suffering from anxiety. He left his job as an editor with a renowned publishing house in Beijing and volunteered with Taoist monks on Wudang Mountain.

16:35

Monastery

CHUANG: I didn’t feel so anxious there, but when I came back to Beijing I had a panic attack. Racing heartbeat, rush of blood.

16:54

Chuang exercising in park

Felt like I was going to die. I had to go to Emergency. But the Emergency ward isn’t the solution. The emotions need to be dealt with.

17:08

Chuang walks in hutong to shop

I couldn't accept the pace of life. I wanted to rediscover my roots. So I went back to my starting point, in the hutongs.

17:26

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Chuang grew up in the hutongs – the narrow alleyways of old Beijing.  Over decades of rampant development, many of these neighbourhoods were bulldozed, others were sanitised for tourists, and only a handful of the real hutongs remain -- working-class communities like the one Chuang calls home.  When he heard his grandparents’ old house was sitting vacant, Chuang moved in, and opened a grocery store.

17:43

Chuang in shop

CHUANG: The shop mainly consists of these two shelves. Down here are all kinds of snacks. On the table here are items, lighters... Oh, this is a bad one. This batch has lots of duds that don’t work well.

18:21

Customer in shop

CUSTOMER: Give me a bottle of Maidong!

CHUANG: Sure.

CUSTOMER: Give us four.

18:44

CHUANG: You need a bag?

CUSTOMER: No.

CHUANG: That’ll be 18.

CUSTOMER: 18?

CHUANG: Yeah, 18 for 4.

"WeChat incoming – 18 yuan."

18:49

Chuang with zither

CHUANG: There are people online telling me, “You should feel sorry for letting your parents down and wasting our country’s resources. You get a Master’s degree with their support but end up running a shop!" It's like I should say sorry to the whole country.

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Li Chuang’s not the only young person upsetting the nation. 

19:06

Hutong GVs

A fringe movement known as Tangping or ‘Lying Flat’ is ruffling the government’s feathers.  It’s a form of passive protest that involves dropping out of China’s competitive work culture and rejecting material success. The Communist Party has labelled Tangping ‘a threat to stability’. State media calls it ‘shameful’. Online discussion of the movement is censored.

19:40

CHUANG: Some people say I'm practicing the Lying Flat philosophy. Maybe they need labels to understand how I can live with no ambition.

20:14

Chuang serves customer

I've also thought about these labels, but I try not to be influenced by them. I'm not being rebellious on purpose. I just want to make myself comfortable and free of anxiety.

"What do you need?"

CUSTOMER: I need paper.

CHUANG: Toilet paper?

CUSTOMER: Yes.

CHUANG: Three yuan.

"WeChat incoming – 3 yuan."

20:30

Jia driving

21:06

JIA: I started driving to see my parents last year. I used to take the train. My parents are hardworking and have a lot of integrity.

21:14

Jia interview in car

They’ve always given me good guidance in my life. They have three acres of land for growing watermelons.

21:26

Jia in greenhouse with parents

21:44

MUM: We never let Zhao Jia do any farming before. But now she wants to be a farmer.  I felt sad when she told me. She went to university, had a nice job, but now she’s farming. I still think an office job is better.

21:50

Jia helps mother cook

22:22

My goal was to raise my kids to go to university. Although I couldn’t help with their homework, I encouraged them to read and study.

22:31

Jia washes chicken

JIA: This chicken was grown on my farm. These are the feet of my ‘hill-running chicken’. Look, they have calluses because they ran wild all day.

22:48

Family eat chicken

23:04

How’s the chicken?

MUM: Very tasty. But really, the chicken is very good.

23:09

I don’t think the farm will succeed in the short term. Not enough money. If they had more money, they could develop it.

23:22

Jia with parents

They could raise cattle and do other things. Maybe open a little restaurant or do farm tours.

JIA: Actually, no, we we’re not going to do any farm tourism.

23:36

We’ll just plant and breed animals.  We'll do livestreaming and videos on TikTok to sell products. That’s enough.

23:49

DAD: Those people doing livestreaming make a lot of money these days. Some people selling melons on TikTok make 10,000 orders a day!

JIA: Yes, very impressive.

DAD: 10,000 a day!

24:01

MUM: I don’t know how to use these things. Her way is different to ours.

24:14

Chuang and others do tai chi in park

24:9

OLD LADY: Your feet must be grounded, your body upright and steady. You see I’m not sweating? I never sweat. 

25:06

CHUANG: Whenever I practice this set of moves, I sweat a lot. I always feel my body is very tense.

OLD LADY: Tense is wrong.

CHUANG: I know!

25:17

OLD LADY: Once you can relax, you can do any style well. If you can’t relax, you can’t excel at anything.

CHUANG: Yes, you’re right.

OLD LADY: Good luck.

25:25

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Li Chuang has taken to visiting the park each morning, traditionally the domain of retirees.  It helps with his anxiety. And he’s avoiding his mother, who’s been staying with him at the shop.

25:35

Chuang's mother serves customer

Chuang’s mum is a retired teacher who worked the same job her entire career.

25:59

Chuang in shop

CHUANG: For my parents’ generation, there weren’t many choices. They went to work and didn't think about changing jobs because the pay was the same. Their generation’s way of thinking, formed in the context of collectivism, will inevitably conflict with ours.

26:12

Chuang interview

Our generation is more diverse. We have more choices and live in a more fragmented time.

26:38

Chuang's mum in shop

MUM: I think he’ll be ok. He pursues perfection, so he’s never satisfied, even running a shop. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. I’m easy going and don’t feel any pressure. At my age, I don’t feel pressure. I go dancing in the square.
"You go first! I’ll go after dinner. They’re going earlier and earlier. Square dancing is addictive. Before we went at 7:30pm, then 7, now 6:45!

26:50

Chuang collects bottles from customer outside shop

27:37

Chuang plays guitar in shop

27:51

Mother eats in kitchen

27:57

Hutong, night

CHUANG: I've been in a state of seeking. Of course, I've been criticised by some.

28:00

Shop exterior. Customer pulls up on scooter

They say I'm just trying to escape. I think seeking and escaping are two sides of a coin. If you’re in a positive state of mind, you’re seeking. If you’re in a negative state of mind then you’re escaping. But I don’t think it’s important. The important thing is to keep moving.

28:08

Hutong residents listen to Chuang sing

28:40

Tutu at ball

TUTU: "Hi I’m back. Woah, so many people!"

29:09

LYDIA FENG, Reporter: Voguing ‘families’ from all over China have gathered in Shanghai for the ball.

29:29

Vogue 'families' arrive at ball

TUTU: People from other places – Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan – they’re all coming. They don’t know us, so now’s the time to show them see what the Cazul family is like.

29:38

Tutu and house members perform

Music

29:56

TUTU: Sometimes our society has a problem, judging people on just one aspect. Using tags to label people is superficial. For many people, after a certain age their personalities, ideas and views become fixed. We need to keep ourselves open.

30:52

I don’t know what my future will be, but now I have a path and I’m less anxious. I’m a lot better than I thought I would when I was at high school.

31:41

MUM: I think it’s good he’s part of this family. Having more experience and understanding, of course this is a good thing.

32:03

Tutu with mother

TUTU: Is there anything else you’d like to say in this documentary?

MUM: Just that I hope my son can be happy. The thing a mother worries about above all is that he’s safe. Whatever he’s doing, whoever he’s with, whatever he does in the future, as long as he’s safe and healthy. I mean healthy in both body and spirit.

32:16

Voguing performances
Credits [see below]

32:54

Out point

33:24