STORY: Belgian family's idyllic life in rural China
SHOOTING TIME: July 3, 2024
DATELINE: July 6, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:59
LOCATION: GUIYANG, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/AGRICULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Belgian family
2. various of the farm
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KEVIN CILLEN MICHAEL E., Belgian living in Guizhou
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): PATRICK JAN CILLEN, Kevin's father
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): KEVIN CILLEN MICHAEL E., Belgian living in Guizhou

STORYLINE:

In the deep mountains in Xiasi Village, southwest China's Guizhou Province, lies a unique "family farm."

It is run by Kevin Cillen Michael E., a 28-year-old Belgian, and his family.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KEVIN CILLEN MICHAEL E., Belgian living in Guizhou
"So my mom's sister, so my aunt, she was already traveling to China. And she really liked it here. So then she asked if my mom wanted to come with her one time, and then my mom said, well okay, sure, I'll go with you. And then, so she came here for two months back in 2000. So, when she came here, she really liked the environment. She really liked the people, she really liked being here. So then the next year my dad actually came here as well in 2001. We just wanted to start a farm in Guizhou. Right now, we just have goats, chickens, rabbits, and a couple of ducks. The plan of the farm is to basically have healthy meat, have healthy animals, so the people that consume them also can be healthy. So, that's the main purpose of the farm. And so right now, our day mainly consists of feeding in the morning, feeding at night the animals, and making sure they're well taken care of. And that's what our daily lives are right now. We really like our life here in China. So I went back (to Belgium) in 2015, and I was there for a couple of months to see if I wanted to live in Belgium, or if I wanted to live in China, just kind of, I was 19 at the time. Well, I wanted to see where I wanted to go in life. So I went back in 2015, and I went there to see if I could get a job, and wanted to work there. But after living there for three months I think, I was like, it doesn't feel like home anymore. Belgium didn't feel like home, so China felt like home."

Over the years, this family has witnessed great changes in rural Guizhou.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): PATRICK JAN CILLEN, Kevin's father
"Now, with the highways and everything, everything is much closer now. And whenever you were, in 2000, when I was here for two months and had a chance to go to a village. Back then it was for the car, like 10, 12 hours drive before you came to a village at that time, because the road was really bad. There was no highway, nothing. And now, with all the highways, the villages are much better. And the houses are better. You see really improvement. And there's lots of improvement. Farming is also much better than (the time) when we came here. Much more productive. It's not so hard work, no more (like) when they did 20 years (ago). We saw these people are really hardworking. It is machines that make it much better."

They also put short videos of their life and the changes they have witnessed on social media platforms.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): KEVIN CILLEN MICHAEL E., Belgian living in Guizhou
"They (local people) have a lot more access to technology and development. Well, we thought when we moved here first, we thought we'd be going to Guiyang (the capital of Guizhou) a lot more because we still cook some foreign foods sometimes. But honestly, since (there's) Taobao (an online shopping platform), basically we can order everything online, it just gets shipped right here, so we don't have to go to Guiyang anymore. So, we want to share our story. We want to share with people what we do here. That's what we started with the farm. And then I think more people seem to be interested in what we are doing here and what the farm looks like. So I hope they continue to support us, and I hope they enjoy watching our videos."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Guiyang, China.
(XHTV)