Seeing change up close

"Bashinelli is an explorer and actor, who is interested in different cultures and lifestyles," Wang adds.

"Nieh, a Chinese American, told us that this was his first visit to the land of his forefathers, and that he felt proud to see the transformation of his ancestral hometown," Wang continues.

In the third episode of the documentary, Nieh is shown during his homestay in rural Chongqing, where his mother's family originated from. While having dinner with the local host family, the spicy flavor of chili peppers reminded him of his childhood when his mother cooked for him back home in the United States.

"My mum and my grandma would always tell me stories about what it was like back in the day when they were living here, and it's always been a little difficult (for me) to imagine, but this time coming here and seeing really made me realize this is where all those stories came from," Nieh says in the documentary.

Zhang Yanli, secretary-general of Doc China, an industry alliance of the country's top documentary production companies, says Homestay China employs a fresh angle to explore rural China, which is an effective way for Chinese documentaries to travel abroad.