Intangible cultural heritage at Airbnb

The Yuexiu government is looking forward to better presenting its profound culture before international tourists via Airbnb, says Chen Lingli, deputy head of the district.

The idea is to integrate business, tourism, culture and create a new business card for Guangzhou's tourism, Chen adds.

According to a tourism innovation and culture protection report jointly conducted by the World Tourism Alliance and Airbnb, the number of experience-based products has broken 30,000 in over 1,000 cities across the globe at the home-sharing platform.

More than 96 percent of the platform users opted for Airbnb out of desires to get closer to authentic local life experiences, the report says.

Another boon for those experience providers at Airbnb is that they each received an income of $2,500 on average in 2018.

At the moment, Zhou's team offers various tongcao painting experiences for travelers who booked trips via Airbnb.

Tourists would be able to listen to professionals about the art form's history and characteristics and receive guidance to better savor the charm of watercolor on the special paper.

For those with painting training before, the team would offer necessary aid and encourage them to develop original art works of their own.

For children and those who are not into painting, they can make various art models by hand out of the plant, which is the painting paper's raw material.

"I think we are ready to offer more, since the first of our students can already teach others about the art," Zhou says.