China’s rural revitalization fueled by farmer poets
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In Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, the Mulan Academy combines literary training with rural tourism and agriculture to boost local economies and cultural life.
Founded in 2019 in Yanghe village, Xiji county, the academy now brings together over 300 farmers who write and share poetry, stories, and novels.
Li Chengshan, a farmer and writer, balances farm work with a lifelong passion for reading and writing, finding renewed opportunity after joining the academy in 2021 and publishing an article in the People’s Daily newspaper in 2024. Journalist Shi Jingbo established the Mulan Academy after leaving his position as editor-in-chief to dedicate himself to China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy.
He developed a funding model called “Literature plus Agriculture, Culture and Tourism” that combines literary activities with educational tourism and livestreamed sales to generate income for the farmer-writers. This approach connects farmers to a national market of 1.4 billion consumers through China’s extensive logistics and internet infrastructure. Xiji county is historically known as “Land of Literature” in China, a title it received in 2011.
The Mulan Academy and initiatives like it aim to revitalize rural communities by valuing local culture and empowering farmers as central figures in the process, with over 1,600 people in Xiji still regularly writing.
