A Closer Look at Agriculture, a Deeper Understanding of Modernization

Author: BUI THI THUY LAM, Vietnamese international student in China and young influencer blogger.

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I grew up in rural Vietnam, so the countryside has never felt distant to me. The fields, the fruit trees, the tea leaves, and the long, tiring days during the farming season are all part of my childhood memories. This was why taking part in the filming of Engines of the Fields: An Observation of China’s Agricultural Modernization felt so close to my heart. During the filming, I was not observing China’s countryside from a distance. I was looking at it through memories of my own rural upbringing, seeking to understand the transformation unfolding across China’s rural communities.

When I arrived at the grape-growing base in Maozhushan Village in Quanzhou County, Guangxi, what struck me first was that everything seemed to be part of a clear plan. The villagers were not simply planting grapes and waiting for them to grow. From cultivation techniques and agricultural infrastructure to improved grape varieties, brand building, and sales, each part was connected to the next. The greenhouses, drip-irrigation systems, and green pest-management technologies particularly caught my attention. They made me realize that farmers here were no longer relying only on experience or hoping for favorable weather. At that moment, I naturally thought of grape farming in Vietnam. Grapes are grown mainly in places such as Ninh Thuan Province, where abundant sunshine and dry weather provide the right conditions. Agriculture there, as in many other places, still depends greatly on what nature provides. Maozhushan Village offered a glimpse of a different path. With technology, planning, and good management, farmers can reduce their vulnerability to natural conditions, while making production more stable and producing grapes of more reliable quality. Before this journey, I had always understood agriculture mainly as the work of growing food. But the visit made me see that modern agriculture does not stop in the field. It includes every stage that adds value after production. A good harvest is only the beginning. Farmers also need a brand and access to markets. Otherwise, their income may still depend on market prices that they cannot control. Only when the value chain is extended can agriculture develop into a genuinely competitive industry.

The next day, my visit to the Liudong Tea Exhibition Hall and the tea-making experience area in Xing’an County brought me a different kind of insight. The grape-growing base had shown me what technology could do for agriculture. The tea industry, by contrast, reminded me that traditional skills and cultural heritage can also be powerful resources. Watching the leaves being withered, rolled, and cured, I began to appreciate that every stage carried the experience of people who had worked with tea over many years. What stayed with me most was that modernization here did not mean leaving tradition behind. Modern equipment had been introduced, but the traditional craft remained at the heart of the process. In this way, local producers were able to improve efficiency without losing the character of the tea, while also making its quality more stable.

I used to think that modernization was mostly about having more machines and getting things done faster. This journey changed that understanding. I began to see that real modernization does not simply replace the old with the new. It allows tradition and technology to support each other, with each playing the role it does best. Tea here is not treated only as something grown and sold. It is also part of the local cultural resources. Through exhibitions, tea-making experiences, creative products, and tourism, a tea leaf can connect with many different industries and create more opportunities for the village. As a young Vietnamese, I naturally viewed much of what I saw through the experience of agriculture in my own country. Vietnam has many excellent agricultural products and is blessed with favorable natural conditions. But in some places, farmers still operate on a small and scattered scale. Many products lack strong brands, and much of their potential value has yet to be developed. China’s rural development experience showed me that agricultural modernization cannot be measured by production alone. It is also about whether a product can build a name of its own and find a stable place in the market. Most importantly, it is about whether agricultural development can bring farmers lasting and meaningful benefits.

Through this filming experience, I came to understand “agricultural modernization” in a new way. It is not a distant or abstract concept. It takes shape in a greenhouse, an irrigation system, a local agricultural brand, a production line, a cup of tea, and a visitor’s experience. In the end, the purpose of agricultural modernization is not simply to produce more. It is to breathe new life into the countryside and help farming families build better and more secure lives. The filming lasted only a few days. Yet my understanding of Chinese agriculture became much more real and much more specific. For me, Engines of the Fields is not only a documentary about vineyards and tea gardens. It also records a way of thinking about rural development that begins with the resources a place already has, makes good use of technology, builds brands, preserves culture, and helps agriculture remain strong in the years to come. I hope that, through the bilingual Chinese-Vietnamese content I create, I can share these firsthand observations with more friends in Vietnam. China and the ASEAN countries are all blessed with rich agricultural resources, and rural development matters deeply to all of us. When young people cross borders, enter one another’s villages and listen to the stories behind the fields, mutual understanding becomes deeper and more genuine. I believe such exchanges can open the door to many new forms of agricultural cooperation in the future.

(If you have specific expertise, or would like to share your thoughts, please send us your writings at CAobservation@outlook.com)