The Farm Next Door

An evening shot of the farm just next to our school
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Our school is only in its 3rd year of existence and sits on what used to be the outskirts of town. It is a rapidly developing area, with new high-rise apartment complexes and retail outlets popping up as I type this. However, just beyond our school’s gate there is still a reminder of what this area was like just a few years before .

Next door to the school is a plot of farmland – actually, numerous plots of farmland within one fenced in area. Each plot is tended by a single farmer who grows a variety of produce that he sells in the mornings at the local outdoor market. Beyond the crops and down a dirt road are a number of homes where the farmers and others reside. The homes are not at all fancy. Many don’t have glassed in windows and most look as if they were made out of a hodge-podge of building materials that someone found in a junkyard. At first glance, you look at these houses and think – there’s no way anybody still lives there, right? Out of curiosity, we’ve strolled through the area several times and found that life is actually quite vibrant there! In the afternoons, workers from our school take their lunch breaks with friends in these “neighborhoods,” playing Mahjong, chatting in the local dialect, and drinking tea. Some of the cafeteria workers from our school even offered us tea and let us sit and watch their game one afternoon. In the evenings, students from neighboring schools and adults with jobs in the city trek down the dirt path towards their homes, past the wild dogs and chickens (who are truly “free-range”). Further down the dirt path and away from the farm there are even businesses: A laundry service, multiple restaurants, and several businesses that appear to either make or repair machine parts for nearby factories.

It amazes us to see how differently these people live than we do in America. Sheesh, it amazes us to see how differently these people live than we do in our relatively comfy apartment in China! We’re not sure how long the area next to our school will continue to stay as it is now. The area around us is rapidly developing and it is inevitable that more shopping and upscale residences will move in soon. In fact, the company that owns our school already owns the farmland and has plans to develop it. The land our school currently sits on used to be part of the “farm next door.” The company that owns our school decided that it liked the land and paid many of the farmers to move. These displaced farmers can often be seen converting their front porch into a store front with beetle nuts (a nicotene-rich nut the men chew) and cigarettes for sale. I can't imagine they make much money off these small ticket items. Our school paid a hefty price for the land: As much as 1 Million Yuan to some individual farmers (around $150,000 USD, and that goes a LONG way in China, especially when you see how these farmers live).

Here’s an interesting tidbit we just learned:

Our school is owned by a private company. The wealthy individual who invested the money to build and construct our school is involved in a number of businesses, one of which is real estate. Apparently, his company purchased a significant amount of land around our school with plans to develop it. Our school was the first piece of this development. The idea is that having a large, top-notch school in the area will boost property values for the whole area. The idea seems pretty solid; restaurants, retail, and housing seem to thrive near schools in China with plenty of student, teacher, and parent traffic keeping the area constantly busy. We’re told that Mr. Yu is willing to “take a loss” in operating the school, so long as it drives up property values for the land he owns nearby (capitalism in action, right?). I was a little disillusioned when I learned of our school’s “true-purpose.” However, the school still educates thousands of kids and has one of the highest rates of success on the National College Entrance exam in Hunan Province. So, regardless of whether the school is just part of one wealthy man’s quest to get richer, the school he created is still benefitting a lot of people. It’s pretty hard to feel too bad about that.