Nantang DAO Chronicles (Part 2)

Author: Fan Jia: PhD student in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong, Eurybia Research Fellow

Preface

In March 2025 , with the support of City University of Hong Kong and my doctoral supervisor Professor Liu Xiaofan, I went to Sanxing Village (formerly Nantang Village) in Sanhe Town, Fuyang City, Anhui Province for a one-and-a-half-month field research. During this period, I conducted in-depth interviews with 14 interviewees, including core members of Nantang DAO, employees of local agricultural cooperatives and villagers, and participated in the Nantang DAO Novice Program, the daily affairs of the Nantang Xingnong Cooperative, and the Nantang DAO Translation Group. Although the time was short, I had a lot of feelings. I have seen the efforts of local partners to put the DAO ideal into practice, and I have also observed the many challenges faced by pioneers in the field of rural construction DAO. These problems are both unique and reflect some common problems in the current development of DAO.

The series "Nantang DAO Chronicles" is divided into seven parts: birth, assembly and conflict, what is the goal, experiments in incentives and circulation, is it decentralized enough, and find a way out, and write at the end . These words are intended to objectively record the stories of those who seek change on this land - the glimmer of ideals in rural construction, the frustrations and perseverance in practice, and the most authentic interpersonal connections. If these stories can touch the hearts of more people, or bring some inspiration to rural builders and Web3 explorers, then their value lies.

Previous links (Part 1 and 2)

Previous links (Parts 3, 4, and 5)

This article is the sixth and seventh parts , focusing on the development direction of Nantang DAO, exploring thoughts on the integration of rural construction and Web3, presenting the visions of each member, and their real insights from local practice.

Find a way out

The story of Nantang DAO continues. Despite the challenges, everything is still happening naturally and emerging. The community is exploring and moving forward through trial and error, and exploring new possibilities in the pursuit of change. Some core members have gone to Jianta Village, Pujiang County, Chengdu City, to try to start a new project, trying to find the real intersection of "rural construction and Web3" there and build a "rural entrepreneurship DAO". At the same time, Tiao chose to stay in Nantang and put forward the initiative of "living a good life" ¹ . By organizing local young people to carry out blockchain learning and band activities, they continue to deepen the community. One side is exploring outside, and the other side is rooted in the local area. The two paths run parallel. Opening a new path is always full of hardships, but as I love a saying: "Pessimists are often right, but optimists are constantly moving forward." The optimists of Nantang DAO are writing their own answers with actions.

Recruiting more professional talents

Talent is the cornerstone of any organization's development. Cikey once reflected that Nantang DAO failed to effectively attract "talents who really understand blockchain and Web3" in its early days. In addition, early members generally lacked mature rural construction experience, and the community took many detours in its exploration. Fortunately, the community has recognized this shortcoming and has taken a series of improvement measures. At present, Nantang DAO plans to invite senior experts in the industry to form a "Nantang DAO Governance Steering Group" to provide professional mediation for internal disputes and output systematic suggestions for the strategic direction of each quarter. In addition, through the "Rural Construction Web3 Bilateral Enlightenment Plan", community members have participated in domestic and foreign Web3 activities many times, and have entered colleges and universities for publicity, which not only improves their own professional quality, but also attracts more professionals who are passionate about Web3 and rural construction to join. This two-way interaction has opened up a new situation for talent recruitment. It is exciting that new members are joining in a steady stream, injecting new vitality into the community. Some of them are good at artistic creation and can add creativity to rural cultural activities; some are proficient in brand promotion and provide support for the external communication of Nantang DAO; others have made great achievements in the field of organizational research and contributed wisdom to the optimization of community governance mechanisms. These new members not only bring professional skills, but also open up more possibilities for the future development of Nantang DAO.

Facing the world and gaining experience

What are the real needs of rural areas? Can Web3 inject new impetus into rural development? How to implement DAO is not only a topic for Nantang, but also a common challenge for the world. Nantang DAO has studied many international DAO cases, many of which are closely related to rural construction. For example, when dealing with the problems of post-earthquake reconstruction and population aging, the Japanese village of Yamakoshi launched the "Nishikigoi NFT" with the local specialty "koi" as the core, and regarded NFT holders as "digital villagers". The DAO community formed in this way attracted more than 1,750 members from all over the world to raise funds to support regional sustainable development. Although this model does not use typical DAO elements such as smart contracts or on-chain funds, it has effectively solved local problems. The experience of Yamakoshi Village is quite inspiring to Nantang DAO. Recently, Yamakoshi Village further proposed the idea of "two-layer DAO-driven governance revolution": using the Yamakoshi DAO as a carrier to realize the co-governance of physical villagers and digital villagers, and make decisions through snapshot voting; at the same time, using the Shihuaren DAO as a platform to promote cross-regional collaboration (such as Shiiba Village and Tenryukyo) and build a "LocalDAO network". This model is similar to the current development path of Nantang DAO and should provide valuable reference for it.

Source: Keio University Study Group, Japan, “Understanding the Digital Village System from the Case of Yamakoshi Village ²

Another relevant case is CabinDAO , a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to building a network city through community collaboration and technological innovation. Its development process is divided into four stages: the creator era from 2020 to 2021, the establishment of "Creator Cabins" as a funded creator residency project; from 2021 to 2022, with the booming development of DAO, Cabin also began to enter the DAO service provider stage, during which the community created many DAO media brands and developed DAO tools such as on-chain and physical passport systems for online communities; from 2022 to 2023, with the turmoil in the crypto market, the community began to significantly reduce the DAO team and focus on creating natural communities for digital nomads and building a global co-living network; starting in early 2024, the team's keyword became "family community", and the team decided to establish a deeper connection with the local community. They launched the Neighborhood Accelerator and proposed to build a community that lives near friends and raises children together.

CabinDAO Roadmap (Source: Community Forum ³ )

It is worth learning from and reflecting on that after several years of continuous exploration, the Cabin team believes that it is more suitable to exist as a loose community network rather than a startup or DAO. On May 8, 2025, Cabin officially announced its dissolution on the X platform, deciding to abandon DAO grants and commercialization projects and turn to a purely community-driven network. This decision stems from reflections on the different models of entrepreneurship, DAOs, and community networks: " Venture capital-backed startups are best suited for small, focused teams that can quickly transform and look for high-growth business opportunities that are financially viable in the short term. DAOs are best suited as a credible, neutral governance mechanism for allocating ecosystem grants from existing cash flow protocols. Community-driven networks are best suited to act as loosely connected organizations that allow many people to independently explore adjacent paths and build what they think is most interesting and valuable. " For practitioners of rural construction DAOs, how to find the position of DAOs in rural communities and what value DAOs can bring to local communities are undoubtedly common propositions faced by the world.

Go deep into the local area and find advantages

While learning from global pioneers, how to take root in the local area requires in-depth research and analysis based on local realities. Nantang DAO needs to comprehensively evaluate local resources such as economy, human resources, spiritual culture, politics, social capital, location and natural environment in order to formulate feasible goals and action plans.

Nantang Village is well-known for its historical experience in democratic governance, and the attention of the society is the biggest advantage of this land. Looking back at the history of Nantang, we can find that the desire for democracy and rights here has never stopped. Its important historical nodes have always resonated with the advanced organizational concepts in the big era environment. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, the citizen movement was surging, the rights lawyer movement and the environmental protection movement began to rise, and citizens were able to protect their rights and interests through legal means and collective actions. Nantang also began to organize farmers to defend their rights, promote grassroots elections and implement village self-government. From 2003 to 2004, the goal of farmers' organization gradually shifted from defending rights to construction. As Yang Yunbiao said: "In the past, we defended rights from a confrontational perspective. After establishing a cooperative, our daily work was to defend rights with livelihood development, cultural construction, and rural self-government construction." ⁴ Later, in the process of farmers' organization, it borrowed from Western civilization, introduced rules of procedure, and realized the localization of advanced governance concepts (2008). During this period, the village's economic and cultural undertakings achieved rapid development. Yang Yunbiao once pointed out in a rural construction dialogue: " Rural revitalization is not a simple industrial revitalization or organizational revitalization, but it must return to the 'revitalization of people' and think about how to make people live with a smile and dignity ." ⁵ Today, the establishment of Nantang DAO continues the tradition of organizational innovation and marks the latest attempt to integrate rural ethics with modern civilization.

From rights protection organizations to rules of procedure, from cooperatives to Nantang DAO, Nantang has tried different democratic governance methods in the past 30 years. However, it is necessary to realize that no matter how innovative the organizational form is, the key lies in whether it focuses on "human connection" and whether it solves the fundamental needs of local farmers. It is gratifying that various attempts in the past and ongoing have produced a good "connection" effect. After DAO members and cooperative members have lived and studied together for a period of time, some wonderful chemical reactions are quietly taking place. During the local investigation, I observed that when local young people faced the division of labor in collective cooking, they took the initiative to use Robert's Rules of Order, and efficiently negotiated and reached a consensus on division of labor through "motions" and "reconsideration". I also felt the budding of local youth's equal rights awareness. They began to organize themselves spontaneously and think about the problems of insufficient transparency in decision-making, unclear rights and responsibilities, and unclear rules in local work and life. This budding of independent thinking and critical spirit will be a valuable asset for Nantang's future development. On the other hand, the cooperative is also broadening its thinking and plans to create a "third space" to serve digital nomads to connect with a wider range of young people. Doing things in a way that respects each other based on recognizing each other's needs may be the source of power for new possibilities on this land.

Last words

Despite the conflicts, the integration of rural construction and Web3 is promising. After the baptism of time and practice, the two sides are expected to reach a consensus in the conflict and form a governance model that takes into account both individual autonomy and collective collaboration. In future development, while promoting Web3 technology and governance models , Nantang DAO needs to be rooted in the cultural soil of the countryside and the vital interests of the villagers , focus on solving the most fundamental needs of the countryside , and let the new digital technology truly touch the soul of rural society .

What do you think of DAO ’s exploration in rural areas ?

Rural construction and DAO are like two originally tangent circles: rural construction carries the practice and sentiment of rural revitalization, while DAO reshapes the trust and collaboration mechanism with decentralized technology concepts. In recent years, these two fields have begun to intersect, attracting Web3 practitioners who are devoted to rural areas and rural construction people who are eager to embrace new technologies. However, due to the short contact time, differences in values and cultural backgrounds, friction is inevitable within this intersection, including the collision of decentralized autonomy logic and rural collectivist culture, as well as the integration of foreign concepts and local traditions .

The core issue is, as a new form of organization, how can DAO find its own scope of action and capacity in the rural governance structure? Taking the practice of Nantang DAO as an example, if the issuance of Nantang beans is only a digital reproduction of the traditional rural governance points system (such as the work point system), and its availability and ease of use are even difficult to surpass other existing "alternative currencies" ⁶ ; if token-based voting is just a replacement for the direct democracy of the Web3 digital platform, but the villagers are substantially excluded from the democratic decision-making process, how much change can we expect this so-called organizational "innovation" to bring to rural society? Although these questions are specifically carried out by Nantang DAO, they are actually a general question for all future rural construction DAOs or similar organizations.

In addition, it must be acknowledged that DAO is not the ultimate answer to all organizational governance problems . No organizational design is perfect, and the trade-offs and choices in the governance process are the key to an organization's response to sustainable development challenges . ⁷ Different organizational forms have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they coexist rather than replace each other. If the degree of decentralization and autonomy is regarded as a spectrum, various organizations in history, as well as different stages of development of the same organization, are at different positions on this spectrum. Many DAO failures are due to a lack of full understanding of this issue. They want to do commercial projects, but find that it is better to use a more centralized approach. They want to use the DAO method to allocate funds, but most people are often not beneficiaries, and economic benefits are often monopolized by a few people. Some DAOs that focus on building community networks have found that they can't seem to find a place for DAO after operating for a period of time. A vivid example is that the Uniswap Foundation decided to provide $165 million in liquidity mining rewards for Uniswap v4 and Unichain during a vote, which triggered anger within the DAO. Members questioned why the foundation should pay money while Uniswap Labs (a centralized entity) earns millions of dollars from front-end fees? ⁸

Therefore, instead of pursuing the establishment of a perfect DAO, rural construction practitioners should think about and explore some practical issues: Under what circumstances is it necessary to organize people in a DAO way? Where is the boundary of DAO? In DAO, which decisions are suitable for "brainstorming" and which ones need to be "finalized"? Although there may be no standard answers to these questions, and the real DAO may never be realized in the real world, idealists can be comforted that the core values pursued by DAO are the real driving force for the continuous optimization of human organizational forms.

Is the decentralized governance model suitable for Nantang?

Nantang may not need an external DAO , but the concept of DAO - transparency, participation, and decentralization - can undoubtedly provide inspiration for the governance of cooperatives. Drawing on such external experience, Nantang can gradually introduce a decentralized governance mechanism while retaining its own characteristics, so as to achieve more resilient and inclusive development. Taking the mutual fund project as an example, some villagers expressed their dissatisfaction with the cooperative's investment in "village sages" during interviews. If a decentralized decision-making mechanism was introduced at the time, the villagers could jointly decide the flow of funds through voting, which might have avoided or alleviated the tragedy. Even if the villagers' dissatisfaction may be an afterthought, this emotion also reflects the community's alienation from the decision-making process. Decentralized governance can not only enhance the sense of participation of community members, but also enhance the fairness and rationality of decision-making by dispersing risks.

In addition, during the on-site observation, I felt that the current operating model of the cooperative is affecting every link, including the internship project, presenting an awkward middle state: it lacks the rigorous regulations and efficient execution of corporate enterprises, and does not have the bottom-up vitality of self-organized communities. In this case, Nantang needs to make a choice between hierarchy and decentralization. One option is to fully adopt a hierarchical system, clarify the role of Brother Biao as CEO, and Liu Bing as a director and investor, to build a clear decision-making chain; another option is to try multi-centralized operation, delegating the decision-making power of small projects to interns or formal employees, and Brother Biao and Brother Bing focus on providing resource support. This approach can stimulate the creativity of the team while retaining the necessary coordination and support.

Expectations of Nantang DAO partners

The last question of my interview was about everyone’s views on the future expectations and next development path of Nantang DAO. Here are some members’ responses:

Bibing emphasized continuous change and openness, and encouraged more people to participate in promoting the development of Nantang DAO. "Change is inevitable. We must continue to seek change and then continue to open up new battlefields." He believes that it is necessary to integrate different groups of people. "Bringing two different types of people together to work towards a goal is a very big challenge in itself. After that, we need to increase influence by expanding participation, let more people know what we are doing, and then attract more people to come in."

Biao Ge expressed his confidence in the future, emphasized the core role of people, and hoped that Nantang DAO would focus on practical actions. He said earnestly , "I don't hope that Nantang DAO will die, because I am also a beneficiary," but I hope that "they will do something down-to-earth." He thinks everyone should "take good care of their body and mind, and manage their own lives. If Web3 partners ruin their bodies, become depressed, and can't even eat properly, then what is the meaning of Web3 ?"

Cikey said he hopes everyone can " live happier and have more fun . At least this story can be told and can nourish people. Do something practical. It is always a good thing to be able to do something in the countryside."

I just think that we should "do something down to earth, something that is practical and not too vague ."

Tiao said that he " could not agree with Nantang DAO , as we were not a team at the beginning", "I may need to trust someone to get things done, but some people may not have established a trusting relationship." He believes that " the best scenario for Nantang DAO may be to become a platform for distributing funds ", and at the level of specific affairs, "it is more suitable to form a project team and form a closer team to promote it ."

Xiaobai expressed concern about the current situation of Nantang DAO, but was open to possible cooperation and development. "Many members of Nantang DAO think it is no longer suitable for them to stay in Nantang. To be honest, I am a little worried, but there may be a split problem in the future." He hopes that Yunxiang DAO can become a partner with similar vision to Nantang DAO. "I think it is a very good thing for everyone to cooperate with each other," but he opposes the use of "incubation" to describe this relationship.

Yu Xing is focused on reducing internal friction and promoting the integration of Web3 and rural construction into a substantive stage. "Let those who want to do things not get caught up in quarrels, and in a more orderly environment, they can really do some Web3 things." He believes that Nantang DAO has completed the exploration period, "We can't always be in the groping period", and pointed out that the current integration of rural construction and Web3 is already influential, "It's time to do something that combines rural construction with Web3."

My feelings

When I wrote this paragraph, I had already finished my life and investigation in Nantang. If I were to say what I gained during this period, I think it would be some real and profound feelings. When analyzing the amount of currency held by Nantang DAO members, I deeply realized that the significance of data analysis is no longer limited to "significant differences", but a series of vivid stories behind each data change . I witnessed many people coming here with great expectations and getting their first incentives through their contributions to the community; I also witnessed that the investor Liu Bing was "forced" to grant voting rights to some extent; I was even more moved by everyone's unity and taking practical actions to help creditors in the village. Of course, I also saw some people clearing their Nantang beans, or choosing to leave the community and never participate in transactions again. Here, I temporarily put aside the constraints of theoretical models and causal relationships, and truly felt the joys and sorrows of everyone behind the data. Maybe I will still be anxious about graduating with a doctorate and publishing my thesis, but at least when facing this set of data, my heart is at ease.

I re-examined the meaning of DAO. At first, my interview outline was full of grand topics such as organizational structure, organizational goals and future development paths, but it may have overlooked the most basic relationship between people. In the final analysis, DAO itself may not carry any inherent meaning. Decentralization may only be an ideal pursuit of human society, and concepts such as autonomy, self-determination and automation are also vague, like a word game. However, when a group of people proposed to build a village in the way of DAO, it actually embodied a value and pursuit: the village deserves to be taken seriously, and people can better connect with each other, accomplish something together, or just discuss, so as to rebuild the relationship between each other. From this perspective, Nantang I don’t know DAO may be closer to the true meaning of DAO in the countryside than Nantang DAO. Especially when the main members of Nantang DAO moved to Wuxiang, Chengdu to develop business, Nantang DAO launched the "Live Well" proposal, aiming to "organize people better", which may be the deeper meaning that DAO should carry. During the interview, I asked everyone about the relationship between DAO and the countryside - does DAO need the soil of the countryside more, or does the countryside need DAO's technology? I think the answer may be: the countryside and DAO themselves do not need each other, what we really need are the people here and the connections established between them.

Finally, although I came to this land with the purpose of studying DAO, my gains far exceeded the research itself. As a volunteer of the cooperative, I met people from different backgrounds and with different experiences: some are determined to take root in the countryside and learn ecological agriculture; some are tired of city life and come to the countryside to seek spiritual comfort; others are confused and questioning, trying to find the direction of life in the interweaving of land and people. This is a very diverse group of people. They come from all over the country-from Guangzhou to Liaoning, from Guizhou to Zhejiang; among them are both billionaires and those who are heavily in debt; there are postdoctoral fellows from top universities in Hong Kong, and farmers who face the loess and back to the sky. Why do they come? I think it is the open and inclusive soil here, the residents' awe of rules and order, and the unextinguished idealistic light shared by this group of people.

Thanks to Brother Liu Bing, Brother Biao, Tiao, Yu Xing, Bi Bing, Pian Pian, Shu Hui, Xiao Bai, Jian Qiao, Yang Zhen, Fang Fang, Cikey, Uncle Liu, Uncle Chang , for being willing to chat with me and share the stories and feelings here. Thanks to Zhang Dong, Gan Yu, Bao Shi, Keyi, Chao Lin, Jia Le, Han Bai, Wen Liang, Jing Yi for living and living with me and spending a fulfilling time with me.

Local partners attended the hackathon bonfire party (March 16, 2025)

The band and children at Dadi Bookstore (April 13, 2025)

Morning Exercise: Web3From the Soil (April 6, 2025)

Notes and References

4. Yang Yunbiao: Actionable Democracy[EB/OL]. Urbanization Network - China Urbanization Portal, 2015-03-20 [2023-11-01]. http://www.ciudsrc.com/webdiceng.php?id=82806

5. He Huili, Xu Hancheng, Wang Sixian. Dialogue with Rural Construction People: The Real Journey of Rural Construction Utopia[M]. Beijing: People's Oriental Publishing House, 2023: 277-295

6. The concept of "alternative currency" can be traced back to Canada in the 1980s. It was initially initiated by progressive intellectuals as a social experiment tool to deal with economic inequality and financial exclusion. Its core idea is to build a medium of value exchange independent of the traditional financial system, serve vulnerable groups who have difficulty in obtaining formal currency, and explore a more inclusive economic model.

7. Zhou Xueguang. Ten Lectures on Organizational Sociology[M]. Social Sciences Academic Press, 2003.