On Chinese social media, recent college grads are calling themselves xinnonren, or new farmer in English. They are among the 15 million people who’ve moved to the countryside in the past few years to farm or start small businesses. Most of them have given up on the job hunt in big cities, where unemployment has stayed stubbornly high. Local governments are also jumping on the new farmer trend by offering tax breaks and loans to entice young people. We spoke to a recent college graduate who filmed his daily life for us and shared his social media posts, which give a glimpse into why some are rethinking their life goals. Wang Hongbo grew up in Inner Mongolia on a sunflower farm that has been in his family for generations, and he was the first to go to university. As a lover of movies, Wang majored in filmmaking and landed a dream internship at a production company in Beijing. But the grueling work while making only $500 a month, made him feel burnt out. Wang graduated and moved home. He applied to dozens of corporate jobs but had no luck. Then one day, while with his dad in the fields, he posted this video of himself dressed like an office worker. The video got millions of views. These days, Wang wakes up at 6 in the morning and works alongside his parents. To reduce a lot of the manual labor, Wang is modernizing the way they work. He has deployed drones that spray pesticides. He’s also convinced his dad to try a machine with A.I. that figures out when it’s best to water and fertilize the crops. But Wang said the most valuable tool is his smartphone, which he uses to livestream about products. Some local farmers are now paying Wang a 20 percent commission to sell their produce, earning him up to $400 per livestream. And that money goes much further in the countryside. But the life of a new farmer can be physically exhausting. And he’s had to learn how to deal with bad weather. Unlike some new farmers who had to start from scratch, Wang has had his family’s support. But he said there’s still a lot to learn for someone who’s never done agriculture before. So Wang attends conferences for new farmers, where they can learn from each other and share new ideas. For now, Wang said being a new farmer beats being unemployed.

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