Empowerment that transcends a pancake

Soon after A Bite of China episode was shown in 2014, Chunshugou's authorities invited a company from Zhejiang province to remodel the whole village, and the uniform pricing for accommodation and catering is a vestige of that planning.

Liu regards running rural farm houses collectively under the government guidance as positive, reducing the possibility of competition and contention among the village's families. The government also ensures that guest rooms, kitchens and toilets are in good order and are hygienic, he says.

Liu is a leader of the local tourism cooperative, and in December 2014 he went on a local-government organized tour of Taiwan to find out about how agritainment businesses are run there. Taiwan serves as a good model because it is a pioneer in developing rural tourism, Liu says.

The village's online presence is very limited, and it relies for customs mainly on word-of-mouth referrals. During the low season, from January to April, villagers switch their commercial attentions to their peaches and chestnuts and to beekeeping and rabbit breeding.

Liu's son and daughter-in-law work in downtown Linyi, an hour's drive from Chunshugou. Thanks to better roads and newfound wealth - almost every household owns a car - parents who were once cut off from their adult children can now have frequent contact.

Rural vitalization is part of the central government's mission to reduce the gap between development in the city and in the countryside, and thanks to the humble jianbing, a well thought-out tourism strategy and better infrastructure the inhabitants of Chunshugou and Linyi have been given the chance to benefit from that drive.