On 23 December, a delegation of over ten individuals comprising village officials, villager representatives and resident volunteers from Yucun Village, Anji County, Huzhou City, visited Zhejiang University's Zijingang Campus. They engaged in a symposium with faculty and students centred on the theme of "Rural International Communication and AI Empowerment".
The Yucun English Corner originated from the practical need for villagers to communicate with foreign visitors. Starting with a simple "Welcome to Yucun," homestay proprietor "Rose" (Lai Qingjie) inspired the entire village, young and old alike, to learn and use English. This initiative opened a linguistic window to the world for this picturesque mountain village. The English Corner serves not only as a place for language learning but also as a space for villagers to share the story of Yucun's transformation. At the symposium, Chen Yuan, Party Secretary dispatched to Yucun by Zhejiang's Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Deputy Party Secretary of Tianhuangping Town, Anji County (on secondment), explained that the English Corner has evolved from a singular language learning platform into a rural cultural community uniting returning youth, university volunteers and international friends. Today, Yucun has established China's first village-based international communication base and is exploring sustainable rural narrative models.
Qiu Huang, an experimental artist from the academy, presented the animated series Where Dreams Begin on behalf of the creative team. This five-part series, China's first rural revitalisation-themed animation produced entirely using generative AI (AIGC), focuses on one representative Zhejiang village per episode. The fifth instalment, "Rose", draws inspiration from Yucun's English Corner. Through the story of villager "Rose" and her husband Old Chen, it vividly depicts Yucun's transformation from mine closure and ecological restoration to developing homestay economies and fostering international exchanges.
Where Dreams Begin is a collaborative production by the Academy in partnership with the People's Daily Party Media Platform, China Rural Network and other organisations. Its trailer was released in October 2025 on platforms including People's Video and China News Network, with the full programme scheduled for global release in 2026. This initiative aims to bring China's rural narratives to audiences worldwide.
During the exchange session, faculty and students from the college engaged in in-depth discussions with representatives from Yucun Village on topics such as "how to disseminate Yucun's stories through focused narratives" and "how to lower the threshold for rural storytelling using lightweight technologies like AIGC".
Technology serves not as a barrier but as a bridge. This exchange was not merely a sharing of stories, but a new starting point for university-local collaboration. Representatives from Yucun Village expressed their welcome for more faculty and students to visit the village for research, creative work, and practical engagement. The School will continue leveraging its disciplinary strengths and talent pool to support Yucun's development as an "Innovative Practice Base for Rural International Communication".
As articulated in Yucun's English Corner short film: "When villagers can say 'Welcome to Yucun' in English, they become protagonists of rural revitalisation." From an English corner in a remote valley to heartwarming tales in AI animations, Yucun is crafting its own narrative of a Chinese village stepping onto the global stage.
