Homecoming scenes

Ecomuseums are transforming the prospects of villages in Guangxi, Xu Lin and Shi Ruipeng report from Longsheng county. 

It is a daily routine for 82-year-old Hou Yujin from the Zhuang ethnic group to show tourists around her traditional home, pointing out the exquisite layout and details.

Dating back more than 160 years, the two-story, 180-square-meter residence was built out of fir wood using mortise and tenon work, a process that doesn't require nails.

Traditional Zhuang houses are propped up by wooden supports and have ladders leading up from the first floor-which was generally used for keeping livestock-to the second floor, where the people lived.

"Tourists like to sit around my 200-year-old family table. I'm touched when they offer me their best wishes," says Hou in her home in Longji village in multiethnic Longsheng county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Although Hou lives on her own, her daughters often visit her. She remains in sound health, still does her own housework and enjoys sewing embroidery. She speaks fluent Mandarin and loves to socialize, especially with young people.