China spent decades drawing on the deep well of workers from all over the country to power the "factory to the world". But now, with many small towns and villages virtually depopulated except for seniors and children, there is movement in the other direction.

Some towns are luring migrant workers back, offering loans, business space and other incentives for them to return and start their own enterprises using skills they acquired in the cities.

The prospect of reunited families and a new wave of rural entrepreneurs is indeed appealing. But when I read these reports, I often wonder about these workers readjusting to a world they left behind. How have they changed while gone, and how have their hometowns changed?