TWO women have become symbols of Langxia Town's drive to promote agricultural tourism. Both have started restaurants that serve simple food common in the countryside. Now they have some customers who drive for hours for one of their meals. Hu Min reports.

The fresh countryside air is noticeable in Zhonghua Village in Jinshan District's Langxia Town. The farmhouses are painted with colorful pictures and the aroma of fresh farm cuisine wafts about. The food comes directly from the chicken coops, the fields and fishing ponds near their farmhouses.

Randomly paying a visit to a household in the town, you will be warmly welcomed by local "aunties," who have brilliant smiles and warm hearts.

Li Juguan, in her 70s, and Fu Lianguan, in her 50s, have become celebrities in the town. They are called "grandma Li" and "auntie Fu" by guests as they are so well known that even their neighbors have forgotten their full names.

They provide homemade authentic farm cuisine, from steamed rice with vegetables and preserved meat to chicken soup and traditional local snacks like glutinous rice cakes filled with jujube and red bean paste.

In Li's kitchen, you will see a large stove with sizzling iron pots cooking rice. The greens come from Li's own field, and she preserves her own pork.

Li is known as the "No.1 kitchen maid" in Langxia. Of course, her recipes are a secret.

She still proudly remembers meeting Vice President Xi Jinping and Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng.

"I was excited, and I never expected I would meet them when I was more than 60 years old as I thought I would be a farmer for life," she said with a grin.

Li also rents her two-story house out to Jinjiang Group, which converted it into a farmhouse inn. Li earns more than 30,000 yuan (US$4,615) every year from cooking meals and collecting rent.

Li said she can't remember how many pots of rice she has made because it's too many. Many guests ask for more after finishing one bowl or even two bowls.

Fu is younger than Li, but she also has a warm heart. Auntie Fu's farmhouse "bistro" doesn't boast a good location compared with other households, but Fu never worries about a shortage of customers.

Near the farmhouse, there is a field planted with vegetables like eggplant and a chicken coop. Red chilies are hung high on the door of the farmhouse, signaling that it is a restaurant. According to local tradition, if red lanterns are hung on the door, it means it is a hotel.

Fu's farmhouse tempts visitors with tender and succulent chicken, which is blended with Chinese herbs such as burdock to make it nutritious. Carp soup and braised pork with soy sauce are also popular among guests.

The bistro opened in 2007. In the past, Fu planted trees and fed poultry to make a living.

Fu's wait staff, mostly her relatives or neighbors, were busy packing eggs into boxes, which are ordered by city folk who want a bite of fresh, healthy food.

In her kitchen you will see big pots. The walls are decorated with paintings by farmers.

Everything is primitive. Wooden tables and chairs sit in immaculate order. The three-story building has 16 tables, and most of the guests are regular customers. Many of them drive for hours from nearby provinces, or downtown Shanghai, lured by Fu's cooking skills.

Fu fancied cooking dishes for neighbors when she was only 19 years old. She worked at some companies in town as a chef.

She was warm-hearted and hospitable. Langxia started developing agricultural tourism in 2006. At that time, there were few dining places for tourists, who are invited to pick their own fruits and vegetables, learn how to make snacks, look at farmers' paintings and do some farm work.

Fu met some tourists during that time and learned that they were searching for restaurants. She invited them to her home and cooked some dishes for them. When they left, they gave Fu some money, but she rejected it.

"I didn't think of making money from it. I just thought they were hungry and I could let them taste my dishes," Fu said.

Later, the tourists returned, but in a much larger group. One of them had organized his colleagues to visit the farmhouse.

With so many guests, Fu asked her neighbors to help prepare the meal.

The idea of operating a farmhouse bistro then originated. Fu opened the restaurant. She hired five to six staff members, but she insisted on cooking herself to ensure the dishes tasted right.

She is also known for her good service. She never hesitated to present free gifts such as sweet potatoes and carrots, all grown in her fields, to guests. She also offers some free snacks when they enter the farmhouse.

Her business boomed and she took the lead of opening farmhouse restaurants among locals. She shared her recipes and gave her neighbors suggestions on how to improve business.

The restaurant has welcomed more than 100 visitors on peak days and reservations are usually required on weekends.

In October, Fu served about 2,860 visitors. She earns more than 100,000 yuan on average every year.

Many customers are foreigners, Fu said, adding proudly that she is able to greet them in simple English.

Fu even made friends with a middle school teacher from California, the United States. The teacher visited the farmhouse several times during a vacation with her students. They liked the local snacks.

One year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Fu was awoken by a knock on her door. Some tourists were there and they asked if she would cook some tangyuan (rice balls or sweet dumplings) for them. Eating tangyuan on the first day of the festival is a tradition among Chinese.

"I hope to introduce our farmhouses to more people and nongjiale (happy farmer tourism) should make everybody happy," Fu said.

Longxia started exploring the development of agricultural tourism in 2006. There are 13 households doing agricultural tourism business currently. All of them have licenses.

Some of them make lianxiang gao (glutinous rice cakes with a variety of fillings like jujube paste and red bean paste) for tourists. Langxia people have the tradition of eating the cakes during the Spring Festival. There are different flower patterns on each piece of lianxiang gao.

Legend has it that a man and his daughter left their famine stricken hometown and fled to Langxia. They dwelled at a household owned by a man surnamed Yao. The father was a wood worker and his daughter was in charge of cooking. One day, the owner of the house celebrated his birthday, and the girl served a glutinous rice cake. The cake was made of glutinous rice flour, red bean and jujube. The girl's name is Lianxiang, explaining how the name of the rice cake originated.

Visitors can also do some farm work, play games and participate in some fun activities like learning folk dances as part of the nongjiale activities. Even group match-making events have been hosted.

Cao Yuefang, an official in charge of the management of agricultural tourism development in Langxia, said: "We host regular training sessions for farmers, who now have strong awareness about good service and are proud of their new roles."