Bamboo chess made by Yao Jiaju and designers. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Industry awards

Many locals have got into the hospitality industry, and for many of them Li's hotels and how they are decorated and run serve as a reference point. However, in many cases those looking for clues to how they can succeed do not get Li's drift.

"They come and look at the way the hotels have been done up, and they don't like it," he says. "They think they are ugly and they don't understand why travelers would like them."

Thankfully for Li, that skepticism is not universal, and her hotels, decorated old furniture bought locally and made to give a traditional Hui-style feel, have won a bundle of industry awards.

"Villagers think streets in big cities like Beijing are beautiful, and that houses with big rooms and fancy furniture have got a lot of charm," she says.

Li, who has lived in Bishan for 12 years now, has seen the village change over the years as more people have moved in, and she seems to be skeptical about whether that has been to the village's benefit, although for the moment she is withholding a definitive verdict.

Earlier this year, Ou Ning, an artist who started the rural development project in Bishan, sold his house and moved out.