TIANJIN: On a sunny autumn day, teenagers and their parents were busy harvesting corn and sweet potatoes on a piece of farmland in North China’s Tianjin municipality.
“We ate the corn we grew ourselves. It’s very yummy,” said Yunyao — a pseudonym for a 17-year-old autistic youth, smiling shyly as he shucked corn.
Located in Tianjin’s Xiqing district, Hui’ai Farm, which translates to a farm that collects love, was established by eight families with autistic or intellectually disabled children. Yunyao’s father, Zhu Xijun, is one of the founders of the farm. Since leasing this land in October 2024, the once formally dressed lawyer has been wearing simple clothes and spending his days working in the fields.
“I don’t expect the farm to make money. The children are past school age, so they need something to do,” he explained. Autism spectrum disorder involves challenges with social communication, repetitive behaviors and emotional abnormalities. The China Disabled Persons’ Federation said in 2023 that the country had 13 million people diagnosed with ASD.
Guan Xiaoyan, another founder of the farm, had to quit her job as a software operations engineer to take care of her son, who was diagnosed with autism at age three. Guan noticed that, after the boy stayed home following junior high graduation, the life skills and behavioral abilities he had worked hard to learn had begun to regress.
“I felt I could neither care for him properly nor take care of myself,” Guan, 50, recalled.
Guan’s 17-year-old son, once withdrawn and burdened by family tensions, has begun opening up through his work on the farm. “Through chores, he has learned cooperation, built healthy habits and is now more willing to play with others,” she said.
Stressing the importance of socialization and life skills for these young people, Zhu explained that they run the farm together to harness the proven value of work in autism rehabilitation.
“Developing work habits is vital for fostering self-care abilities. Through labor, the youths interact with friends and family using language, actions and emotions. This process keeps them happy while improving their life skills,” he said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
