She named the new inn "Sisters' Flowers." As the name suggests, it is run by Ya and her younger sister, both of whom love flowers.

Ya welcomes her guests wearing traditional Nu ethnic costumes, and treats them with delicious local dishes cooked from vegetables gathered from nearby fields. Often, she also sings folk songs for them.

Her guesthouse became very popular through the word of mouth, and now regularly receives guests from big cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Ya said she plans to expand her house and redecorate rooms to accommodate guests.  

She also did not stopped with her own success. She has helped others in the village to run guesthouses and referred guests to them. During the five-day May Day holiday this year, she received many groups of more than 50 tourists. With her inn's capacity overstretched, she introduced some of them to other inns in the village.

Benefitting from policy support and improvement in facilities, Laomudeng is thriving on tourism. In 2019, the village received more than 50,000 tourists, raking in more than 3 million yuan (US$430,000).

Guesthouses in the village can offer about 400 beds, and create more than 100 local jobs, quadrupling villagers' annual average income from a decade ago.

"My biggest wish is to live a happy life along with my fellow villagers," the 50-year-old woman said. 

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