Rural lodges promise tranquil paths into the life bucolic

More farmers take advantage of country dwellings to create income streams

SHANGHAI - It is the second day of China's weeklong National Day holiday and Lai Xingcai, owner of a countryside lodge in the outskirts of Shanghai, is busy receiving guests from downtown.

His two-story lodge is renovated from a common Chinese village house. What attracts urbanites to his lodge is the surrounding field cultivated into a small zoo, an herb garden and a bamboo garden.