Becoming Otherwise: Undefined Lives beyond the Given (成为别样：超越既定人生 未被定义的存在们)

This research-based documentary, produced in collaboration with the Academy of Film and Creative Technology, translates findings from the project “Young Talented People’s ‘Leaving’ and ‘Living’ in Chinese Cities” (中国青年人才在城市的“去”与“留”). Focusing on Jiangcun (Kaixiangong Village) in Suzhou, the film draws on 18 interviews and fieldwork to explore how young civil servants, entrepreneurs, and university students reshape rural life through digital innovation, informal governance, and community engagement. The documentary shows how migration operates as self-reinvention and socio-technical transformation, extending counter-urbanisation scholarship by highlighting youth agency, hybrid mobility, and community building. By combining academic research with creative storytelling, Becoming Otherwise contributes to debates on youth-led rural revitalisation and people-centred smart futures in East Asia.