From sightseer to entrepreneur: Shenzhen white-collar worker builds "faraway home" in Xinjiang

"Loving a city is like loving a person. Nowadays I prefer to say that I'm from Burqin," said Xu Qingzhu, a woman who quit her job in Shenzhen, a first-tier city in south China's Guangdong province three years ago and started up a B&B hotel in Burqin county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Xu Qingzhu in her B&B hotel. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

After traveling to a number of cities, Xu chose Burqin, a small county in the region's border area, as the place where she would later go on to pursue her dreams.

As temperatures begin to rise in May, tourism in Xinjiang normally starts to pick up again, and Xu is also bustling about in her B&B in preparation for the upcoming busy season when tourists are expected to begin flocking to the city in droves.

Since she started running the B&B, the surrounding greenery and shrubbery around her property has become something of a treasure trove for her, a backyard to nature where she’s collected all kinds of tree branches, stones and flowers to decorate her B&B rooms.

Speaking of the reason why she stayed in Burqin county and started her business there, she told People's Daily Online that it was a place that she just couldn’t forget about after visiting there for the first time. "There's no reason for it, and I just like it," she said.

Xu used to work in a large firm in Shenzhen and earned over 10,000 yuan ($1,550) each month.

Traveling is what she did in most of her spare time, and she said it was always a huge joy for her to see all the different sights and sounds.

Many of her friends, and even Xu herself thought she would continue traveling the world over for her entire life, until Burqin got in the way.

The local attractions and scenery in Burqin, including the attractive architecture of the local dwellings and its distinctive cuisine and culinary delights, not to mention the county’s hospitable residents, were all a source of captivation for Xu. When she visited the county for the first time, she took over 10,000 pictures in just five days.

And then, after she came back to Shenzhen, all she could think of was one thing and one thing only – that lovely county of Burqin in China’s far northwest. It was at this point when she decided to quit her job and make the long journey back to Burqin once again, but this time returning as an entrepreneur rather than as a tourist.

Shifting from the tasks of a white-collar worker who sat in front of a computer all day, Xu has transformed herself into a kind of jack-of-all-trades who is now able to repair toilets, use electric drills and paint rooms with her own two hands.

Today, in her spare time, Xu will sit inside her beautifully decorated B&B and listen to the stories told by guests visiting from across the country. "There's a lot more to be explored in Burqin. In the future, I will integrate more cultural elements into my B&B, and provide my guests with better experiences," she said.