Tandi village in Gaozhou, western Guangdong province, has recently gained popularity online through its production of short-form digital dramas.

Leading this cultural surge is the series New Dreams in Lychee Land, which earned nominations for Best Director and Best Actress at the 4th Hong Kong Bauhinia International Film Festival last year.

The drama, which has been viewed over 150 million times across platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou and WeChat, was shot entirely in Tandi village, with the local lychee industry as its backdrop.

The series has taken rural stories to a wider audience, and is a remarkable achievement in Gaozhou's exploration of an economic development model that centers on short films, agriculture, farmers and rural life, according to local officials.

Guo Zhiyu, Party chief and head of Tandi village, which has a population of approximately 1,000 people, said shooting short-form digital dramas in the village has helped promote homestays, restaurants and related cultural and tourism industries, increasing local farmers' income.

"Visitors have to book in advance if they want to stay in the village's homestays or have meals in local restaurants during weekends and holidays, as all the places are always full," he said.

To meet the growing tourism demand, Guo said the village's infrastructure and facilities have been improved in recent years.

As a national model for "digital rural vitalization", Tandi has become a busy production base for vertically shot content.

The village has even established a special short-form digital media service center to serve and promote the development of the burgeoning industry and related cultural and tourism industries.

In addition to training local extras, the center organizes singing and dancing performances and competitions to attract tourists, said Guo, adding that the local government values the role that short-video creation plays in promoting rural economic development.

The Gaozhou city government has committed substantial funding, with 5 million yuan ($715,600) allocated annually to support script development and production.

Policies introduced by central and local governments are forming synergies, according to Guo, who said they are paving the way for more short-form dramas centered on agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

According to Wu Yachun, a director in Tandi, there's a huge market potential in shooting rural-themed short-form dramas, as audiences have probably seen enough of "those dominant CEO dramas and urban-themed TV shows".

"Urban stories have become somewhat over saturated, even to the point of flooding the market," he said.

That being said, filming in the village has its own challenges.

"Sometimes, more than 100 extras are needed to shoot the short videos per day," Wu said.

However, the villagers are more than willing to oblige, with more than a third having appeared on camera so far, he said.

"We are mainly telling the stories about the people returning to their hometowns for entrepreneurship or the daily lives of farmers — tales that unfold both within and beyond the village," Wu said.

A great many of these stories feature rural scenes such as farming the land, growing and picking lychees, Wu said, adding the locals' natural performances are far more authentic than those of professional actors.

For farmer Wang Youxiang, it is not uncommon for her to be suddenly called away for filming by the director while she is working in the field.

In that situation, she never hesitates to put down her farm work and rush to the film set. Wang said she very much enjoys shooting short videos, and sometimes participates in two or three scenes in a day.

The filming doesn't interfere with her farm work, said the 42-year-old mother of four.

"The farm work is always there, but filming short videos doesn't happen every day," she said in a recent interview with China Daily.

"Shooting short-form dramas can bring many villagers and people together, and it is a joyful experience," she said.

"When many villagers shoot together, interactions between them become natural and happiness follows. Unlike TV dramas, short videos are readily accessible on mobile phones when I have free time after work."

In addition to free meals, shooting short videos can help her earn up to 100 yuan a day, Wang said.

"Filming short-form dramas can help raise the village's image, promote tourism and expand sales of our lychees," said Wang, who also serves as the volunteer extra coordinator in the village.

Xie Ruiqi contributed to this story.