Haimen Normal School Affiliated Primary School 'Golden Thumb' Shared Farm (Jiangsu)

Summary

In spring 2023, Jiangsu Haimen Normal School Affiliated Primary School (江苏省海门师范附属小学, Nantong, Jiangsu) converted three mu (about 2,000 m²) of farmland into an off-campus labor-education practice base named the "金拇指·共享农场" (Golden Thumb Shared Farm), in response to the CPC Central Committee and State Council's "Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening Labor Education in Universities, Middle and Primary Schools in the New Era". The opening ceremony included plaque unveilings and per-class planting-sign awards; each class received its own plot and planted the season's first seeds (soybeans, potatoes) under the guidance of local farmers. A distinguishing feature is the family rotation schedule: parent-child teams adopt responsibility plots, carrying planting and tending tasks into every weekend and every household, so students participate panoramically and continuously in the full cycle of planting, tending, picking, and harvest. The base also houses a farming-culture hall (students cooked stir-fried shredded potatoes on a traditional large iron wok) and a handcraft labor workshop where farmers demonstrated the transformation of soybeans into soy milk, tofu skin, and tofu, which students then ground by hand. The program was reported by the Nantong Municipal Education Bureau on its official website.

Guiding Principles

• Food Sovereignty — children experience the whole chain from seed to table, including processing (soybean → tofu), not just cultivation.
• Community Self-Sufficiency — the family rotation model embeds the farm in household and community rhythms rather than limiting it to school hours.
• Youth Empowerment — classes own named plots and make real decisions about tending and harvest.

Learning Outcomes & Transferable Skills

Students gain Food Production skills across the full crop cycle, Project Management habits through scheduled plot responsibility, food-processing knowledge (tofu making), and Sustainability Literacy grounded in traditional farming culture. The family co-management structure also builds household-level Community Organizing capacity around food.

How to Replicate or Build On It

1. Read the Nantong Municipal Education Bureau report (primary source) for the launch design: ceremony, per-class plaques, first planting with farmer mentors.
2. Secure a small off-campus plot (the model uses ~3 mu / 2,000 m²) near the school.
3. Institute the two signature mechanisms: per-class plot assignment and a weekend family rotation schedule so tending continues outside school time.
4. Add value-adding stations — a farming-culture hall and a processing workshop (e.g., soy milk/tofu) — to extend growing into food literacy.
5. Compare with the class-contract model in chengdu-huiya-farm.

Considerations & Constraints

• Cost: Low — land access, seeds, hand tools; the processing workshop needs basic equipment (stone mill, wok station).
• Skill Level: Beginner — primary school students guided by farmers and teachers.
• Space/Climate: Outdoor farmland; temperate Jiangsu climate with distinct growing seasons.
• Tools Required: Farm tools, seeds/seedlings, irrigation access; optional processing equipment for the workshop component.
• Ongoing Maintenance: Moderate — weekend family rotation distributes continuous tending duties.
• Access Barriers: Chinese-language only; no downloadable curriculum — the documented material is an official news report, so replicators must design their own lesson structure. Requires access to farmland adjacent to the school, which may be the binding constraint in dense urban districts.

Prerequisites

None. Related entries: chengdu-huiya-farm (urban class-contract variant) and education-power-plan-2024-2035 (policy environment).

Primary Source

Nantong Municipal Education Bureau official report "江苏省海门师范附属小学'共享农场'开启全景式劳动" (2023-04-07), verified live 2026-09-12: https://jyj.nantong.gov.cn/ntsjyj/xycz/content/7078d9b2-4f3f-4376-9582-527e311527e7.html