By staff reporter LI XIA

Courtyards dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties in Beijing's Mentougou.

AT peak tourist season, 32-year-old Li Lianfen sees her husband and son just once a week. She has converted her home in Shicheng (Stone City) Village in Beijing's Miyun County into an inn. City people come here to stay and enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the mountains around her village. As she has no time to look after her son, he attends a primary school in the county seat 20 kilometers away, staying with his father in the accommodation provided by the middle school where he teaches.

Unlike the large rural households of 20 years ago, Li Lianfen's family comprises five people of three generations - her parents-in-law, husband and herself, and son. Her father-in-law is manager of the Taoyuan Fairy Ravine Scenic Area, a popular holiday retreat for Beijing residents. Li is by no means the only person in her village to have made her home into a private inn. Numerous other villagers did so long before her. She hesitated to do so initially because the family finances were already adequate, and also because only her mother-in-law and herself were available to run the inn.

Sporting on a suburban reservoir.

Development of the national economy over the past two decades has greatly improved the general standard of living for Chinese people. One sign of this is the increasing number of family cars. Statistics show that among Beijing's 13 million residents are 2 million private car owners. A family car makes travelling easy, and for the past two years outings to suburban Beijing have become increasingly popular with city dwellers.

To the majority of urbanites, the countryside was for years an unknown quantity, particularly to children, who even now rarely see a real live pig or sheep. Going to the suburbs to stay at a farmer's house amid stunning natural scenery has now become a part of their lives.

Shicheng Village, 100 kilometers from downtown Beijing, is surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and gullies. Local farmers have planted the mountainsides with abundant woods and orchards. Peak tourist season in Miyun is from March to November, when the flora is lush and blooming, and the reservoir is full.

A farmer entertaining foreign guests at his home.

Miyun County is described as a "majestically scenic suburban park of mountains and rivers in Beijing." Within its boundaries are the Simatai Great Wall, and the ancient strategic military town of Gubeikou, as well as the routes taken and places visited by past emperors. The Wuling and Yunmeng mountain national forest parks, and the Taoyuan Fairy Ravine Scenic Area are all within the county. The Miyun Reservoir, constructed in the 1950s, supplies Beijing residents with potable water. It is in itself a beautiful scenic site, and in order to protect its waters from pollution, the county government closed down all neighboring factories.

Unlike other rural counties, Miyun has never launched any kind of rural industrial enterprise campaign in pursuit of local economic development. The consumption demands of urbanites have, however, opened up a new source of rural prosperity. Before the 1980s, local farmers in Miyun, particularly those in mountainous villages like Shicheng, where arable land is very limited, lived a hard life. Few villagers had ever been even to the county seat, only 25 kilometers away, let alone Beijing. At that time, the villagers' greatest desire was to go to Beijing and see how the city folks lived, though the standard of living of their urban counterparts then was little better than their own.

Nowadays, mountain villagers see urbanites on an almost daily basis. The definition they have formulated of them is that of "a bunch of good-natured simpletons." This is because in addition to leisurely pursuits like roaming through the mountains and taking pictures, urbanites enjoy such activities as fruit picking, and flour milling the tradition way, with a stone roller in a courtyard. These tasks, along with the other "novelties" of eating potherbs, and sleeping on an earthen "kang" in which city dwellers so delight, have been a daily aspect of villagers' lives for generations. Simple or not, urbanites have brought the standard of villagers' lives to a level almost equal to their own.

The Gubeikou Great Wall.

The government supports local farmers in their endeavors to improve their lives through developing a tourist economy. Families like Li's that have just one child, for instance, qualify for government subsidized interest-free loans. Vacation inn operators also have the right to contract for a certain acreage of mountainside land on which to grow the orchards where their guests go to pick fruit. In addition, they qualify to participate in land development projects according to their operational needs. In villages where 40 percent of households engage in the tourist trade, capital support with which to develop village infrastructure, such as roads, and water and electricity supply, is available from the government.

The Miyun County Tourism Administration has a private vacation inn administration that regulates and supervises the available services. According to them, folklore tours do not require a high investment, and they bring in rapid economic returns. The county now has 24 folklore tour villages, involving some 2,000 households, and 12,000 people. Each household earns a minimum of 8,000-10,000 yuan each year, and some families make as much as 100,000 yuan. The tourist trade brings with it the opportunity for supplementary earnings, such as from renting horses, sedan chairs, and boats, and selling locally produced handicrafts. Last year the per capita income in Miyun was 4,000 yuan. This did not make it the most affluent of Beijing's suburban counties, but its growth rate was certainly the highest.

A farmer's inn in Yaoqiaoyu Village, Beijing.

After 20 years of economic development, rural governments at various levels realize that grain production is not the only means to a livelihood for farmers. According to Jia Haijiang, deputy director of the Miyun Information Department, this mountainous county has abandoned its tradition of grain production in favor of cash crops, fruits, vegetables and animal husbandry. The government guides, advises and helps farmers in making optimum use of local resources in order to produce the goods that meet market demands. For instance, farmers are encouraged to grow fruit trees, and in order to alleviate the lack of income during the first few years it takes them to grow, are advised to plant grain between the rows of saplings. The government also pays a subsidy of 200 yuan per mu (1/15 hectare) to fruit growers until their trees bear fruit. Farmers are encouraged to raise cattle, and have been given help and support in establishing a large dairy-product processing factory.

The county farmers' association is another source of guidance and information. It has set up over 400 economic organizations where consultation is available on production and marketing, and on how to obtain compensation at times of economic loss.

An appreciable number of villagers have become rich by providing food, lodging and other tourist services, but this is not an easy road to prosperity. At peak season Li Lianfen and her mother-in-law clean, shop, and cook three meals a day for 30 guests or more. When they can no longer manage, they hire outside help. Most of Li's guests are like old friends that periodically spend a few days at her house. Among her regular clients is a group of fine arts students whose easy-going demeanor adds life and laughter to her courtyard. There are also occasional sightseers who come upon her house by chance, to whom Li offers congee (rice porridge) free of charge.

At 35 yuan a day for food and lodging, villagers' home inns are eminently affordable. For those staying longer than 20 days the charge drops to only 20 yuan a day. Folklore tours promote exchanges between rural and urban people. As urbanites experience the simple, honest rural way of life, villagers can, through them, gain an impression of the modern and colorful world beyond the confines of their village.