Location
The narrators in China come from Donghao village, in Hebei province, in the north of the country. The village has 625 households and an estimated population of 2,525. There is a road linking Donghao to surrounding villages and the county capital Qinglong. However, this road is in poor condition, which makes the village difficult to access.

Livelihood options
The village has approximately 100 hectares of arable land and most households have only small plots of land. These were individually allocated after collective land was subdivided into household plots in 1982. The villagers hire a huozi (plough) and a horse to cultivate their land, and grow cereal crops such as maize, sorghum and millet. They also grow different types of vegetables, including sweet potatoes, and Chinese herbs. Some farm produce is sold to buy daily necessities and food, including rice and flour.

The women of Donghao also raise some domestic animals, including pigs, chickens and rabbits. And some village farmers have established small tree nurseries, so they can sell tree seedlings to other farmers within Donghao and in neighbouring villages.

As a result of the small size of their farms, most villagers are not able to secure adequate income from agriculture alone. Indeed, most farmers are only able to produce enough for their own consumption. To complement their agricultural activities, many households rely on other non-farm income, mostly in the form of remittances from family members working on contracts in Beijing and surrounding towns. Some Donghao villagers also work in nearby mines.

Migration is so common that most young male villagers and unmarried women – up to 50 per cent of the population – have left to find jobs elsewhere, leaving mainly the elderly, married women and children in the village. The villagers are struggling to find ways of engaging young people in farming. Many local people want to create their own small businesses, but they don’t have the resources to take such risks. Some of the women wish to set up a cooperative making hand-made cloth.

Facilities infrastructure
There is only one primary school in Donghao, and most trained teachers are reluctant to work in such a rural environment. Government salaries for teachers are also small and fail to attract and retain skilled graduates. There is a privately run kindergarten, to which parents from other neighbouring villages also bring their children.

There are five clinics in the village managed by “village doctors”. These health workers have basic medical training and are only able to treat minor ailments and give injections. These clinics are privately run by individuals in the village and operate commercially. Accessing emergency healthcare is difficult because of the poor condition of the road.

The villagers have household wells that they dig and construct with materials that they purchase themselves. These wells provide water for drinking and other household chores.

Donghao had an irrigation facility for seven years, which allowed villagers to successfully grow wheat and other crops for household consumption, and for sale at nearby markets. However, since 1996, following years of poor maintenance, the irrigation system stopped working. Since then, agricultural production has depended on rain.

The village was connected to the telephone system in 2006, and a third of all households have telephones in their homes. Others prefer to use mobile phones, which are now considered to be cheaper.

Social challenges
The need for migration has created some particular social challenges in Donghao.  One of the most pressing local issues is the lack of support for elderly people, since so many younger villagers have left to work in towns and cities. Ageing parents and grandparents are left at home, often with small children to care for and farms to cultivate. Linked to this is concern about the emotional and educational development of the young children left behind by parents who have gone away for work. The strain of poverty has been one of the causes of suicide, particularly among women left in the village.

The partner organisation
The Beijing Cultural Centre for Rural Women is an NGO that seeks to promote the social development of rural women in China. Since its foundation in 2001 it has focused on their self-empowerment and development by raising awareness of gender equality and citizenship. Over time, the organization has expanded its activities, to include advocacy for migrant women’s rights, support for rural women’s business initiatives, and training of rural women’s organizations. In Donghao village it works towards enhancing the situation of women by organizing training on issues such as domestic violence and mental health. By helping women to increase their status within the family and gain the means to participate in economic and community activities, the organization has been addressing the issue of high suicide rates among rural women. The Beijing Cultural Centre for Rural Women used the community grant from Panos London to support the setting up of a women’s cooperative to produce and market hand-made cloth.