Back in 2012..
we (Laojia's founders, Maarten and Eric) arrived in a small fishing village along the Li River in rural Guangxi province.
At the time, we had been living in Shanghai, trying to understand China — its language, its culture, its rhythm.
But it wasn’t until stepping into that village that something clicked.
The way people lived, the openness of the villagers, the connection to the land — it was simple, but it made sense.
It was the kind of China experience we had been looking for.
We were hosted..
by a local family who told us they were preparing to move out of their old Qing Dynasty house.
Without much of a plan, we decided to stay — and eventually took on the renovation of that house ourselves.
We had no experience. We spoke limited Mandarin.
But we worked side by side with villagers every day. And that changed everything.
Mandarin was no longer something we studied — it became something we used, all day, every day.
Over time, something shifted. The language started to stick, not because we memorized it, but because we needed it.
Before this..
we had both tried learning Mandarin in a classroom setting.
It often felt slow, abstract, and disconnected from real life.
In the village, that changed completely. Even after just a few days, we noticed how quickly things started to click. After several months, we reached a level of confidence we hadn’t thought possible.
Around that time, we began opening our home to others. What started simply — sharing a place — gradually became something more.
People connected deeply with the experience.
At the same time, something was happening within the village: the guesthouse created work, local culture was being valued more, and traditional houses that might have been left behind were being preserved.
What started..
with one house grew into something ongoing.
Today, we work with several rural communities across China — places we return to, places we have built relationships with, places we consider a second home.
Often, it still begins the same way: with a famly, a house, and it's natural surroundings.
Spending time in these places has shaped how we see things. There is a different rhythm here — a way of living that is practical, patient, and deeply rooted.
We share these places because they have given us a lot. And because something meaningful can happen when people spend time here — on both sides.
Over time, we’ve also learned how to support that experience better.
Our immersion programs, together with the study materials we’ve developed, are designed to help others step into this kind of life more easily — without having to figure everything out the hard way, as we did (!)
Laojia (老家) is often used to describe the place you come from — but also a place you return to.
What we offer is a step into a different way of living, for a period of time.
With the right environment and a bit of support, that can lead to new perspectives, new skills, and new friendships —
and sometimes, a place that starts to feel like your own Laojia.