full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Xiaowei R. Wang: Why entrepreneurship flourishes in the countryside

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So tcniarg these moments in rural tech relvaes how so much of the togcnoehly we do build centers our consumption and our einmantenetrt in cities. Besides, some of the most thoughtful, careful innovation is not happening in a pcale like Silicon vellay or San Francisco, but in plceas outside of them. Like Yangguang, a rice farming village four hours outside of Guangzhou. For years, the local acrgautriull bureau had worked with farmers to implement chemical fertilizers, cheiamcl pesticides, industrial farm machinery. And so they did this, and they noectid a decline in their soil quality under these modern protocols. So the villagers took things into their own hands. So they do rice farming, and rice farming is mountain terraced. So it’s a form of natural irrigation, with water flowing from top to bottom. The village changed their grnaovcnee structure so that stewardship of the rice paddies would change every few years via a ltrtoey system, which also meant you wouldn't have contiguous paddies. So if you sprayed pesticides or dammed off water at the top, you might be affecting yours or your neighbor's paddy lower down. They also started practicing organic frnaimg and building their own farm machinery with the help of local blacksmiths. They also started seilnlg their rice onilne. And while tech helped this village steward their land, it was really people, not tech, at the helm of decision-making.

Open Cloze


So _______ these moments in rural tech _______ how so much of the __________ we do build centers our consumption and our _____________ in cities. Besides, some of the most thoughtful, careful innovation is not happening in a _____ like Silicon ______ or San Francisco, but in ______ outside of them. Like Yangguang, a rice farming village four hours outside of Guangzhou. For years, the local ____________ bureau had worked with farmers to implement chemical fertilizers, ________ pesticides, industrial farm machinery. And so they did this, and they _______ a decline in their soil quality under these modern protocols. So the villagers took things into their own hands. So they do rice farming, and rice farming is mountain terraced. So it’s a form of natural irrigation, with water flowing from top to bottom. The village changed their __________ structure so that stewardship of the rice paddies would change every few years via a _______ system, which also meant you wouldn't have contiguous paddies. So if you sprayed pesticides or dammed off water at the top, you might be affecting yours or your neighbor's paddy lower down. They also started practicing organic _______ and building their own farm machinery with the help of local blacksmiths. They also started _______ their rice ______. And while tech helped this village steward their land, it was really people, not tech, at the helm of decision-making.

Solution


  1. place
  2. agricultural
  3. selling
  4. places
  5. online
  6. chemical
  7. tracing
  8. farming
  9. lottery
  10. noticed
  11. reveals
  12. valley
  13. entertainment
  14. technology
  15. governance

Original Text


So tracing these moments in rural tech reveals how so much of the technology we do build centers our consumption and our entertainment in cities. Besides, some of the most thoughtful, careful innovation is not happening in a place like Silicon Valley or San Francisco, but in places outside of them. Like Yangguang, a rice farming village four hours outside of Guangzhou. For years, the local agricultural bureau had worked with farmers to implement chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, industrial farm machinery. And so they did this, and they noticed a decline in their soil quality under these modern protocols. So the villagers took things into their own hands. So they do rice farming, and rice farming is mountain terraced. So it’s a form of natural irrigation, with water flowing from top to bottom. The village changed their governance structure so that stewardship of the rice paddies would change every few years via a lottery system, which also meant you wouldn't have contiguous paddies. So if you sprayed pesticides or dammed off water at the top, you might be affecting yours or your neighbor's paddy lower down. They also started practicing organic farming and building their own farm machinery with the help of local blacksmiths. They also started selling their rice online. And while tech helped this village steward their land, it was really people, not tech, at the helm of decision-making.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
online pearl 4
pearl parties 4
rural areas 3
small farmers 3
pearl ponds 2
rural china 2
computer vision 2
rice farming 2
farm machinery 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
online pearl parties 4

Important Words


  1. affecting
  2. agricultural
  3. blacksmiths
  4. bottom
  5. build
  6. building
  7. bureau
  8. careful
  9. centers
  10. change
  11. changed
  12. chemical
  13. cities
  14. consumption
  15. contiguous
  16. dammed
  17. decline
  18. entertainment
  19. farm
  20. farmers
  21. farming
  22. fertilizers
  23. flowing
  24. form
  25. francisco
  26. governance
  27. guangzhou
  28. hands
  29. happening
  30. helm
  31. helped
  32. hours
  33. implement
  34. industrial
  35. innovation
  36. irrigation
  37. land
  38. local
  39. lottery
  40. machinery
  41. meant
  42. modern
  43. moments
  44. mountain
  45. natural
  46. noticed
  47. online
  48. organic
  49. paddies
  50. paddy
  51. people
  52. pesticides
  53. place
  54. places
  55. practicing
  56. protocols
  57. quality
  58. reveals
  59. rice
  60. rural
  61. san
  62. selling
  63. silicon
  64. soil
  65. sprayed
  66. started
  67. steward
  68. stewardship
  69. structure
  70. system
  71. tech
  72. technology
  73. terraced
  74. thoughtful
  75. top
  76. tracing
  77. valley
  78. village
  79. villagers
  80. water
  81. worked
  82. yangguang
  83. years