Seven years after the Chinese government started to promote tourism and consumption with the introduction of "golden week" holidays, peasant farmers have begun to benefit.

More and more city people are taking advantage of the weeklong holidays around Chinese Lunar New Year, Labor Day on May 1 and China's National Day on Oct. 1 to head out to the countryside to enjoy fresh air and organic food.

For peasant farmers equipped to offer hospitality, the influx of tourists means huge profits.

"I started to host tourists in 2004. Last year, I made 20,000 yuan (2,500 U.S. dollars) in net profits," said Zhou Fachun, a peasant farmer in Zhoujia'ao Village, eight kilometers from the city center of Nanjing, in east China's Jiangsu Province.

"It feels wonderful to be running a business from home," he said.

Sixteen out of the 78 families in Zhou's small village take in tourists during the holiday periods. The three most successful family businesses are making 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (25,000 to 37,500 U.S. dollars) a year.

"Chinese people started celebrating 'golden week' holidays in 1999 and more than 100 million holiday train trips are made each year," said Prof. Zhou Yingheng, president of Nanjing Agricultural University?ˉs School of Business Administration.

For years, only city dwellers enjoyed the holidays. The 900 million peasants who make up the vast majority of the Chinese population were left out, he said.