Bonus. The futures of China's countryside

China's countryside isn't heading toward one future. Sociologist Forrest Zhang walks us through four different scenarios: suburbanizing villages turned tourist destinations, industrial-scale grain belts managed by smart phones, intensive vegetable farms facing a looming labor crisis, and aging villagers returning to subsistence farming. We explore the shift from socialist to capitalist agriculture, and ask whether the next era may take a "sustainability turn,” a door opened by a shrinking population, food oversupply, and a rising public health crisis.

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episode104

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Listen to China's Food Future (Part 1).

Guest

• Prof Qian Forrest Zhang, Singapore Management University

Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.