Hoteliers tap into astronomic interest

As stargazing becomes increasingly popular in Beijing, the city's suburban areas, where there is a better natural environment and clearer skies than downtown, are seeing flocks of visitors, happy to pay big money for the experience of being blanketed by stars at night.

Yang Dong, general manager of Daxishui Xiyuan Homestay in northeastern Pinggu district, has been running such a business for nearly two years.

"I started to realize that stargazing has become a hot trend last summer, when our hotel rooms were booked up for the whole of July and August," Yang explained.