Hu Fang, star of the Chinese art world, is cultivating a small field of vegetables in the middle of the gigantic industrial sprawl of the Pearl River Delta. Here, where China’s capitalist experiment began, he wants to achieve a new understanding of the land from the ground up. The fruits of his garden are visions of the future of Chinese society – ways of escaping predatory capitalism and the increasing contamination of the soil.

Aquaponic units are perched atop the roofs of Beijing like small UFOs. Dome-shaped, they are for growing fish and vegetables using a water-cycling system.