Verdant rice waves in Hualien, where a young farmer dances — Xie Xiaojian is determined to protect his hometown

Photos & Text / Excerpted from "Moving to Hualien: Practicing an Ideal Life with 30 New Hualien Residents"

Hualien Yuli is one of Taiwan’s rice-growing heartlands. Amid the emerald-green rice fields, you might occasionally spot a young farmer named Xie Mingjian dancing. With a specially custom-made “farm” earring gleaming on one ear under the sun, he even dreams of getting a tattoo on his back — the design already sketched out, featuring a cross between a stalk of rice and a hoe beneath the Chinese character for “farm.” It’s his way of eternally recording the beauty of farming, a testament to his resolve to safeguard his hometown.



Meeting Uncle Gas Sparked His Return
Xie Mingjian once worked as a technician at an electronics factory in Taipei. But after a year, he had an epiphany: “Back then, I did the same assembly task every day without even knowing what I was doing!” He admitted that although he earned more in Taipei, the material desires and temptations were greater. Sometimes, he’d call home only once in a while — not to check in on his parents, but to ask his mom for help: “Mom, I’m out of money again...” Earning money elsewhere only made him spend more recklessly, filling him with guilt.

The turning point came from an act of kindness. At the time, Xie Mingjian shared a small rental unit with some friends. One day, when they called for a gas delivery, the deliveryman was a septuagenarian uncle who struggled to carry the gas tank up the stairs, step by step. When Xie handed him the gas fee along with a fifty-dollar tip for the delivery, the uncle broke into a wide smile and kept saying, “Thank you, thank you.” It struck a chord in Xie’s heart — he thought of his own father back home, wondering how many hours he had to spend patrolling the fields and bending over just to earn fifty dollars. Recalling that encounter with the gas delivery uncle, Xie’s eyes welled up with tears, and he decided to put an end to his aimless life in Taipei and return home to farm.

Blending Old and New in Friendly Farming
However, “going home” wasn’t as easy as he imagined. To the older generation in the village, young people returning from the city was seen as a disgraceful, hopeless choice. “If you’ve succeeded elsewhere, why come back?” Faced with the silent judgment of the villagers, Xie Mingjian had to go through an even tougher psychological adjustment than when he first moved to Taipei. Even so, he actively participated in farming lectures and brought back the concept promoted by experts: “Prevention is better than pesticide spraying afterward.” This idea was initially met with his father’s disapproval, who thought prevention was unnecessary. But Xie Mingjian remained committed to introducing new ideas to his hometown, carefully considering ways to reduce the burden on the land.

Although Xie Mingjian is now adept at farming, he had his fair share of comical mishaps when he first returned to the fields. For example, rice fertilization is supposed to be done in three separate applications, but he whimsically thought, “Three times? Too time-consuming. I’ll just do it once!” The result? The overly nourished rice grew abnormally. After this lesson, Xie Mingjian started following the experience of veteran farmers while subtly incorporating disease prevention methods, blending old and new concepts to create the most land-friendly farming approach.



Spreading a Symphony of Farming and Music
A graduate in fine arts, Xie Mingjian also hoped to use the power of the internet to share the joy of farming with more netizens. So, he’d sweat in the fields in the morning and spend afternoons at his computer, illustrating his daily experiences with drawings. Occasionally, he’d even rally friends to shoot funny parody videos — never tiring of it. Then one day, a netizen left a quiet comment asking if they could buy rice directly from him. That marked the beginning of “Jianjian Good Rice.” Thanks to Xie Mingjian’s humor and design talent, “Jianjian Good Rice” quickly became an online hit.

In recent years, he has gradually handed over farm operations to his elder brother while shifting his focus to marketing and design behind the scenes. He aims to explore new possibilities for “Jianjian Good Rice” through customized marketing strategies. In his spare time, Xie Mingjian also formed a band called GeekBang with other young friends who returned to their hometowns. Together, they rented an old house in the village, turning it into a cozy spot for music and rest. They even plan to perform elsewhere, letting more people hear the beauty of Yuli. Now, through music and farming culture, they’re working to promote the charm of Yuli. If you pass through, why not stop for a moment? Perhaps you’ll hear the heartfelt songs of the GeekBang gang echoing between the mountains and rice waves.