Village Voyage: Where China's rural soul meets the world

Among the growing array of destinations in the vast country, China's villages have emerged as a compelling draw. To explore these gems, CGTN presents Village Voyage, a series following American host Julian Waghann and Namibian traveler Absalom Absalom through villages in Guangdong Province, located in the Pearl River Delta, north of Hong Kong. For Absalom, the journey offers what he sees as a replicable model of how villages can thrive without losing their "souls."

Ancestral halls and the scholars who never left

In Shunde's Yang'e Village in southern Guangdong Province, Julian and Absalom step into the cultural space of a community – once the Lu Ancestral Hall, where scholar Lu Cang founded an academy after retiring from office. It is a small village but home to 14 civil and military jinshi scholars during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, a reflection of its long-held reverence for education. A jinshi was the highest and most prestigious rank in China's imperial civil service examination system - a scholar who passed the final court-administered exam. But the village's living heritage does not stop at books. Here, the lion dance – an intangible cultural heritage item – passes down from old masters to children. "If they want to learn, we just provide the opportunity for the kids," said lion dance coach Feng Jianhua. "So, they can carry forward our millennia-old culture."

The village that gave the world kung fu

Few know Bruce Lee's ancestral home stands in Jun'an, Shunde. Guangdong has long been the heartland of southern Chinese martial arts. Locals greet each other not with "Have you eaten?" but "Have you had your night porridge?" – a phrase that means "Have you been practicing kung fu?"

Luo Dezhi, a fifth-generation inheritor of Shaolin Wing Chun and Bruce Lee's fellow disciple, has trained for over 50 years. "For a martial artist, virtue comes first, then a strong body," he said. "Kung fu represents traditional Chinese culture – to strengthen the body, protect oneself, and help others."

Soft gold from village waterways

A century ago, merchant He Mingshi shipped xiangyunsha – gambiered Canton gauze, known as "soft gold" – from Shunde's villages down the Pearl River Delta to countries abroad, like Malaysia.

The saying goes: "A tael of gold for a tael of silk." Today, this UNESCO-recognized intangible cultural heritage is still made by hand. "It's way harder than it looks," Absalom said as he tried the process. Inheritor Chen Hongfa watched and smiled. From Shunde, Guangdong, the craft reaches the world.

UNESCO gastronomy inside towns

Shunde is one of only a handful of UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy worldwide. Within Guangdong – a province famous for Cantonese cuisine – Shunde is widely regarded as its birthplace. "About ten years ago, they converted this place into a food street," a fish skin vendor said. Now, visitors come for crispy African crucian carp skin, fried milk (a recipe unchanged since 2002), and Shunde raw fish slices. "This is the best choice I've made this year so far," Absalom said. "I would never imagine tasting this in a village."

More than a series – a travel companion

Village Voyage is more than a television feature. It is a living travel guide – a "road book" that maps Shunde's hidden gems through detailed itineraries, rich photo essays, and short-form videos. The series expands beyond the screen with guest vlogs and first-person POV footage, placing viewers directly into the boat, the kung fu training hall, and the bustling food street. For armchair travelers and policymakers alike, it offers an immersive, replicable vision of rural development. Whether you seek cultural roots, martial arts legacy, merchant wisdom, or the simple warmth of a village meal, this series delivers it all, through the quiet rituals of daily life: a bowl of porridge, a punch practiced at dawn, a piece of silk dried in sunlight.

An open, confident rural China is not a relic. It is a flight or train ride away.


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