xi's moments
Home | People

Former diplomat harvests a new life

China Daily | Updated: 2020-05-09 14:26

Nijs handles official business in the study.[Photo by Liu Ranyang/China News Service]

Nijs recalled that when he was a child, he visited many exhibitions about China. At the age of 18, he was caught up in the world of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching."I felt that my previous life must have been in China," he says.

"In 2010, the first time I came to Yunnan, I fell in love with it. Yunnan is like a magical combination of my birthplace, Africa and China. I think I am able to fulfill my rural dream here."

The outbreak of COVID-19 did impact on their rural idyll.

"Even in our remote village, there were staff helping with the checking in and out. During the epidemic, I attended a funeral in a neighboring village and was tested several times for my temperature, and the villagers did not treat me as a foreigner," Nijs says.

Nijs cherishes the sustainable agricultural business in Dongchuan as his own spiritual exploration and practice. In Yunnan, more and more young people are coming to him to exchange ideas about reviving the countryside.

"Look, this is the parsley I brought back from Belgium. It's like me, happily growing here," Nijs says.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next   >>|
Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349