Kongbai, Guizhou (CNN) -- Savoring a meal of vegetables and rice grown in nearby paddy fields washed down with some home-brewed rice wine served, it's clear Long Taiyang is delighted to be back. 

Once one of the 250 million Chinese farmers that left behind their families to forge a living in the coastal factory towns, the 37 year old lives back in his ancestral village of Kongbai, a jumble of 200 timber houses that cling to the side of a valley in southeast Guizhou, one of China's poorest province. 

"I don't want to leave anymore," he says, tired of factory work and living in a cramped dormitory after four years spent making leather shoes in Wenzhou in eastern China. 

Long is not alone in abandoning what has been described as the one of the greatest human migrations of all time. 

While the overall number of migrant workers is still on the rise in China, those seeking work in their home provinces increased at a quicker pace that the number of long-distance workers, according to analysis by The China Labor Bulletin. 

Investment in China's inland provinces has meant that many migrant workers can now find decent paying jobs closer to home and many, like Long, have concluded that separation from their families and communities is too great a price to pay. 

Grand plans 

Not just home to sample his wife's cooking, Long has a plan to give himself and his village a better future. 

He hopes to revive the traditional trade of silver and metal working that has all but died out as people left in search of better opportunities. 
who is delighted to be back?
Long Taiyang is delighted to be back. 