Making room for a lucrative business

In Huangshan, a city in Anhui province and home to one of China's most visited mountains with the same name, B&Bs typically raise funding from multiple investors.

For example, 4.5 million yuan in financing is raised in equal amounts from 100 investors. So, each investor chips in with 45,000 yuan ($681,800), and stands to reap 1 percent of eventual profit from the business. Some investors may pump in more, in multiples of 1 percent stake, and would be entitled to proportionate profit, according to the prospectus of Zhan Yuan, a B&B firm founder, on a crowdfunding platform.

In mid-August, Zhan, an architecture designer and lecturer, launched a plea for 200,000 yuan on a crowdfunding platform to refurbish a farmhouse into an eight-room B&B.