The interest goes both ways in an old Chinese village

A villager prepares lotus snacks for visitors to try. [Photo by Rosemary Bolger/chinadaily.com.cn]

Despite the recent attention, our busload of foreign reporters and accompanying officials creates quite the stir. We're greeted with a line up of local rice flour specialties made right in front of us by expert hands. The lotus candy is the most surprising, it's sickly sweet and sticks to your teeth like a red skin without the artificial coloring.

There appears to be just as much interest in us as we have in them. Local media have turned out for our visit as well as nearby residents who take photos of us taking photos of the village. When I crouch down to say 'ni hao' to a child, I'm soon surrounded by toddlers pushed my way by parents keen to record the moment they met a foreigner.

Rose tries hopelessly to wind rice noodles in a spiral before they are stretched out and hung out to dry. [Photo by Chen Ziyan/chinadaily.com.cn]

It's my first experience of this sort of attention. Having arrived in Beijing less than a month ago, this is my first trip out of the capital. In expat-flooded Beijing, the locals think nothing of a blond girl on the subway. But in Zhuhai Village, an hour and a half's drive from the nearest big town Fuzhou it is clearly still a novelty.

We escape some of the clamor, wandering down narrow cobblestone alleyways between the original stone buildings and peering through open doors into homes adorned with Mao posters and simple furniture. I wonder what the villagers, many of whom now live elsewhere and just return for the day, make of their homes being turned into a spectacle.

Our guide admits that not all were supportive. "Villagers firstly disliked the crowds," she said. But government support and the job opportunities that come with the tourists have won many over. The local government has more planned for the village. It's free to walk in right now, but an entry fee is being considered. We're shown a sample room in what they hope will become a hotel allowing guests to soak up the village atmosphere for longer, while still enjoying the all important comforts such as a western toilet.