Farm spaces become tourist spots

Like many migrant workers, Yang Qiaoxing jumped on the bandwagon by leaving his rural bungalow for life in the city.

Little did he expect that the stinky cattle pen in his backyard could be turned into a book bar in East China's Fujian province.

In Shangping village in Xiyuan township, it is not just Yang's cattle pen that has been rehabbed into a wooden house, but also nearly every livestock enclosure, barn and rundown kitchen have been turned into such spaces to house shops and recreational areas as the impoverished village makes a concerted effort to spearhead rural transformation.

Comfy couches offer people a place to pass time as they get lost in stores filled with books neatly organized on shelves.

If it was not for the brick fence on the first floor, Yang would never be able to recognize the transformed nook which was once his cattle pen.

"I got a phone call from the Party chief of the village committee three years ago telling me the village's plan to make use of obsolete structures for renovation to better suit the overall tourism development," said Yang, who seldom returns to the village.

He said he now leases his cattle pen, earning 200 yuan ($29) a year in rental income from the village's operation of the book bar.

Nestled in the mountains between the provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi in eastern China, Shangping village boasts a history of over 1,000 years. There are 26 historical sites recognized by the province, which used to be mansions, gardens and memorial arches of big family clans in the village.