Dongfeng, an impoverished village in Jiangsu Province, was once characterized as a mere “dumping ground,” because its economy was heavily reliant on plastic waste recycling. This bleak situation led to an exodus of young adults seeking employment opportunities in cities, with one villager even lamenting that “if an elderly person died, the village would not be able to muster four able-bodied men to carry the coffin.” Han Sun, born in 1982, was among the young people who left Dongfeng