"We could not have done this without collaboration with CAFA ... This furniture is designed by them and it helps (visitors) really understand what is going on in China," said Koolhaas, pointing at the tables and chairs that form a replica of an encircling conference room in rural China.

"China is currently one of the only countries that has a policy of keeping the countryside as a viable environment, as a place where there are new opportunities created," he said.

The rural revitalization strategy, first put forward during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, aims at achieving the basic modernization of agriculture and rural areas by 2035, and the grand goal of a strong agriculture, a beautiful countryside and well-off farmers by 2050.

"I think that to some extent China is a model of what should happen also in other territories in the countryside," he said. "What we find striking, and what I think is maybe the most, the deepest reason that I have admiration for China is that they never give up trying, and continuously make an effort at improvement."