Yuan and her family have been offering homestays to overseas guests for three years and have received visitors from Europe, Canada and the United States, most of them high school or college students. Recently the family applied to become part of the Olympic homestay program, but organizers said the house was too far from the downtown area.

Many commercial operators in Beijing offer to match travelers with households willing to rent them a room. Jacob Cooke, manager of Beijing Homestay Agency, has directed many guests to Yuan's home and said the agency has a database of 30 to 40 families willing to provide homestay services.

(China Daily September 2, 2008)