Forget five-star hotels. Four-sided courtyards offer travelers to Beijing the chance to truly live up the local culture.

More guests will be able to stay in family-run accommodations since the Beijing Municipal Tourism Development Committee announced on Jan 13 that it's encouraging more courtyard owners to convert their houses into homestays featuring life in traditional hutong (alleys) and offer local cuisine.

The committee hopes to expand the Beijing Renjia (Beijing Family) project modified from the Olympic Renjia program initiated in 2008.

Dozens of courtyard owners have turned their quadrangles into family-run hostels, mostly for foreign tourists. The committee had certified 33 as of 2012.

It hopes to recruit more owners while detailing standards.

Courtyard 7 is a popular Beijing Renjia hostel that housed senior Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) officials. Its 19 rooms and two yards feature traditional doors and artwork, and Qing-era furniture.

It has housed about 68,000 visitors, 95 percent of whom are foreigners, since opening in 2008, Beijing Daily reports. It's awaiting reassessment by the committee under Beijing Renjia's new standards.

Three new types of single-purpose Beijing Renjia locales will be introduced, each focusing on the specific services of only offering Beijing food, only providing accommodation or only open to day visits, the committee's deputy director Yu Debin explains.

Applicants must have period furniture and such traditional decorations as Peking Opera masks, Chinese knots and jade sculptures.

Yu says the assessments will take about half a year.

Currently, 658 courtyards are protected among more than 4,000 in the city's 1,300 hutong.

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/28/2015 page24)