Reconnection

For Yang, of Shuyuan village, LoHo is about reconnecting with history. The village name means "house of learning", and an enclosed area, measuring about 130,000 square meters and dotted with ancient halls and buildings stands on its western fringe. It's believed that Confucius (551-479 BC), China's most-famous teacher and philosopher, taught there.

"Throughout history, rural China has been the breeding ground of our culture and civilization. Its decline during the past 40 years can be attributed to many factors, but the most destructive aspect of this decline is the loss of both morals and confidence," Yang said. "No construction is possible without the revival of those two things, and revival is impossible without people taking the initiative."

The show where the women performed the umbrella dance ended mid-afternoon, and five hours later, at around 9 pm, Liao was back in Beijing. Sitting in a taxi at the train station, she took a long, deep breath and looked out of the window at the chilly night.

"Rural China suffers from many ailments. For any cure to have a chance of working, it must take the rural society as a whole and not focus solely on surface issues," she said.

"When the cyst in my left ovary disappeared, I knew that my future child and I were indebted to the doctor for life, but it wasn't until I adopted the principles of traditional Chinese medicine in my social work that I finally felt as though I had said a proper 'thank you'."