乡下 xiāngxia countryside
countryside; rural area
How to remember 乡下: 乡 country + 下 down = countryside.
Characters
How it is used
- The countryside as opposed to the city - 回乡下老家 (huí xiāngxia lǎojiā) to go back to one's rural hometown.
- 下 is toned neutral (xiāngxia). Contrasts with 城里 (chénglǐ, in the city); the pair 城里/乡下 is the everyday city-vs-country split.
- Slightly colloquial and can carry a rustic/unsophisticated overtone; the neutral formal term is 农村 (nóngcūn).