In March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that the situation in the Chinese countryside is desperate and claimed new resources would be devoted to healthcare and education. This announcement should have pleased architects of the Chinese "learning initiative" who are building learning cities and villages. The authors describe why learning villages are needed, show how to build one, describe innovative work in Shuang Yu village and make a case for emphasising "social" (as well as "human") capital in learning villages. With this in mind they analyse what it means to move from an orthodox "teaching" to a "learning" model. Chinese people have suffered too much and most now want peace and a good life. But, their future is threatened by environmental collapse and gaps dividing glittering cities from an impoverished countryside. Learning is at the centre of all available remedies to these problems. Not more exams, skills training, formal education or punishment. China needs a learning society, and, in the countryside, learning villages. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)