In May, the Danzhou Campus of Hainan University buzzes with cicadas amid sweltering tropical heatwaves. Beyond the shaded pathway behind the teaching buildings lies “Lihua Garden”, where 120 fiberglass planting boxes stand in neat rows. This is no ordinary laboratory – it’s a living classroom for the well-rounded education encompassing five dimensions: moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education.
Small as it is, this garden serves as an experimental field where colleges and residential colleges jointly explore how to implement farming-studying education. Since its inauguration in 2024, it has yielded golden corn, purple eggplants, and emerald cucumbers. Yet its richest harvest lies in the young students: through planting and tending, they’ve gained a vivid understanding of the “well-rounded education”—not just in their minds, but in their hands (from soil-streaked palms), eyes (watching seedlings grow), and hearts (grasping the value of labor). By weaving labor education with moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic education, Hainan University’s farming-studying education writes a new chapter in the growth of a new generation by using soil as paper and sweat as ink.
From “Farming on Blackboards” to “Learning in the Fields”: Farming-Studying Education Activates New Dimensions of the Five-Dimensional Well-Rounded Education
“When I studied plant pathology, even the clearest disease diagrams on PowerPoint slides couldn’t compare to touching a shriveled chili leaf in the field with dirt on my hands,” says Fu Tianji, a 2022 cohort student majoring in agronomic education. She flips through her notebook, filled with meticulous records of how chili leaves yellowed and shriveled over time. Pointing to a chili plant with slightly curled leaves, she explains, “Using what we’ve learned, we diagnosed this as a physiological disease caused by nitrogen deficiency. After applying fertilizer in time, the leaves have now recovered.”
Such “field classrooms” epitomize Hainan University’s farming-studying education practice. Addressing the long-standing issue of agricultural students “farming on blackboards and chasing pests on concrete pavements”, Danxin Residential College established a planting zone in the dormitory area and co-built “Lihua Garden” with SINO-AGRI Leading Biosciences Co., Ltd. The program adopts a four-stage training model: self-directed learning, expert-guided instruction, corporate-academic collaboration and teachers and students immersive field practice. From the initial “physical endurance trials” of hauling 26 cubic meters of soil and 120 fiberglass planting boxes, to the “emergency response battles” of rescuing 80 typhoon-flattened corn plants, and now the “technical proficiency tests” of independent pesticide blending and disease diagnosis, every step integrates the “well-rounded educations” into action.
“Labor education is never isolated; by its very nature, it intertwines with the other four components of the well-rounded education” explains Wang Zhen, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee, Danzhou Campus, Hainan University, gesturing to the “student responsibility plots” in the garden. “Calculating soil ratios while tilling, collaborating as a team while saving seedlings, building physical strength while weeding, and marveling at the natural beauty of crops swaying like green waves — this should be the true essence of labor education.”
From “Novice Growers” to “Young Agrarian Artisans”: The Integrative Well-Rounded Education Cultivate New Dimensions of Growth
Transformation unfolds in the details. Wang Zhi, a Class of 2022 student majoring in agronomic education, still recalls his first attempt at mixing pesticides: “We thought doubling the concentration would kill pests faster. But three days later, the yellowish corn leaves developed rust-colored spots, and new shoots curled up like withered claws— the result of spraying 200ml of undiluted pesticide directly, which burned the leaf stomata.” Now, he masters the principle for preventing and controlling of fall armyworms—“early detection, staged treatment”—and can precisely calculate pesticide dosages across growth stages. This expertise stems from courses co-developed by his residential college and partner enterprises, such as Fundamentals of Pesticides and Pesticide Application Techniques. “Labor isn’t just about physical effort—it requires critical thinking, the very essence of intellectual education.” he reflects.
Such growth abounds in Lihua Garden: Sun Mingyang, a Class of 2023 student majoring in rural governance, has evolved from a novice grower to a skilled practitioner in integrated pest management and trellising techniques; Zhong Hao, another 2023 cohort student, transformed from an amateur taking blurry photos to the garden’s lead videographer; and Fu Fangzheng, a 2022 agronomic education student, obtained a drone operation license during winter break and now integrates tech-driven solutions into planting management.
Guided by the goal of cultivating new agricultural professionals who know and love rural affairs, Danzhou campus has established a faculty-counselor collaborative task list for student growth, effectively driving the teaching resources to the grassroots. “Farming-studying education is more than physical labor—it’s a holistic process that weaves together knowledge, character, physical fitness, and aesthetic appreciation through labor,” says He Jiabei, Deputy Party Secretary of Danxin Residential College. The impact is evident in students’ career destinations: 65% of 2024 agriculture-related graduates chose careers serving “agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents”.
From “Youth Gardens” to “Sprouting Fields”: Farming-Studying Education Sows New Hope for Rural Vitalization
At the harvest symposium in July last year, 36 members of Lihua Garden packed corn they had grown into gift boxes, attaching handwritten thank-you cards for their parents. Fu Fangzheng mused, “We used to recite the classic line ‘Li li jie xin ku’ (Every grain is the result of hard work), but now we truly understand—the blisters from tilling the soil, the rain-soaked rescue of seedlings during typhoons, the repeated decimal calculations in pesticide mixing. Every bite of food is a crystallization of sweat, knowledge, and heartfelt effort.”
Such “gratitude education” is a vivid illustration of the moral lessons in Lihua Garden. A deeper sense of responsibility emerges from students’ renewed understanding of “agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents.” Feng Yufei, a 2024 rural governance major, shares that “I once thought agronomy was purely theoretical, but now I realize it’s a discipline that closely integrates theory with practice. Practical operation plays a pivotal role in agricultural production, helping us grasp how practice bridges textbook knowledge to real fields.” Zhong Hao adds, “From food security to rural revitalization, agronomy is directly linked to people’s livelihoods. To increase farmers’ yields and incomes, we need not just technology but also the commitment to applying knowledge directly in rural fields.
This awareness fuels action. Danxin College’s agronomic students now build an “Agrarian Education Pioneer Team of CPC members” to maintain campus orchards and gardens, adopting grid-based management of partition and classification processing for green spaces. As Dong Zhuoyue, a 2022 agronomic education student, shares in her reflection, “We’re not just planting corn and pumpkins—we’re sowing seeds of ‘knowing, loving, and revitalizing agriculture.’ These seeds will go with us into the fields and villages, taking root and sprouting in broader landscapes.”
At dusk in Lihua Garden, Fu Fangzheng packs his tools as a message from his mother pops up on his phone: “We received the corn. It filled the house with fragrance when we cooked it. Your father says it’s sweeter than what we buy at the supermarket.” He smiles and replies, “That’s our youth ripening within.”
In this small garden, a simple yet profound answer unfolds to the question of modern education: when moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education develop harmoniously and comprehensively, the goal of cultivating well-rounded individuals can be better achieved. Here, when youth meets the soil, what takes root is not just an expectation for crops, but also young college students’ deep affection for “agriculture, rural areas, and rural residents”, and their hope for the future.
Translated by Yan Xinyang
Proofread by Liu Sujun
