Household Change Behind Laomudeng’s Guesthouses

Laomudeng sits on a slope of the Biluo Snow Mountains above the Nu River valley. In a profile published by Yunnan’s provincial legislature, Nu resident Yuguolin remembers how early visitors arrived as backpackers, sometimes asking to stay overnight. At first, he and his wife cooked for them and gave up their own room. Visitors urged him to open a guesthouse, and he eventually built a small structure beside the family home with eight beds. He named it “150” Inn, using a local wordplay described in a separate account.

The early inn was not simply a private business. As guests increased, other villagers came to ask how to organize rooms, meals and service. Yuguolin showed them how he arranged the building and prepared local food. When his rooms were full, he sent guests to other households; when a neighbor filled up, that family returned the favor. The story describes a village economy beginning through practical referrals and shared learning rather than a single large hotel project.

Later village programmes broadened the work beyond lodging. A 2024 agriculture department case study describes the linked Laomudeng and Zhiziluo scenic area, tea gardens, cultural performances and a road connecting sites on the slope. A 2025 report from the provincial ethnic affairs commission records training in dabya music and the Nu song tradition, along with performances that involved local residents. It also describes tea cooperatives and village processing as part of a growing local industry.

Different activities fit together in the reports: families host visitors, performers teach and present music, growers tend tea, and local groups organize shared events. Yuguolin’s first rooms opened a door that other households could choose to enter in their own way. Laomudeng’s change is visible in connections between family hospitality, cooperative work and cultural teaching.