Tucked away deep in the mountains of northwest China, Ma Kejun, 63, opened his teahouse early in the morning and began boiling water for his herbal tea. He had to hurry because he knew customers would be arriving soon.

As the COVID-19 epidemic has waned and mid-summer approaches, more and more urban dwellers have chosen to visit the countryside to beat the heat.

Ma's teahouse sits in a valley of the Liupan Mountains in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In stark contrast to the once impoverished village of Yangling, Ma's place features modern glass walls, red-brown wooden tea stands and traditional tea wares, with dried corn and peppers hanging from the ceiling.

"The tea tastes sweet. It's cool here and the view from the window is also beautiful. If only I could live here for the whole summer," said a female customer from east China's Fujian Province.

"We didn't expect such a teahouse in a mountain that is so secluded from the world," said her companion.

The two took a selfie together.

Ma said he earns up to 200 yuan (about 28 U.S. dollars) per day.

Years back, Ma and his wife relied on a piece of farmland and their three cows for a living. The old couple, like most of their fellow villagers, lived in a dilapidated home in the isolated village.

The local government introduced a tailored plan to alleviate poverty in the village in 2014. And Ma's life has never been the same.

With government subsidies, Ma raised more cattle and renovated his cowshed. The following year, he transferred all his cattle to the village's new breeding base for an annual dividend of at least 900 yuan.

In the meantime, the village's infrastructure was being greatly improved. All of a sudden, the couple found themselves living in a summer resort with an "ocean" of flowers.

Inspired by a trip to nearby cities, Ma turned his empty cowshed into a teahouse in 2017. He wanted to serve tourists ba'bao tea, a local specialty typically mixing tea leaves with ingredients like red dates, dried longan, rose petals and sugar.

"Ba'bao tea is good for your health and popular among Chinese. I want to have a try. I still want to do something to make my life better," said Ma. Last year, he earned about 5,000 yuan by selling tea.

Animal breeding and tourism soon became Yangling's two pillar industries. Ma and his fellow villagers shook off poverty more easily, with 75 percent of them having at least two sources of income.

The per capita disposable income in the village had exceeded 10,000 yuan by the end of 2019, said Zhang Gujie, the Party secretary of the village.

The village held its first tourism festival last year, which attracted over 100,000 tourists in 10 days. The comprehensive income of the tourism industry in the village exceeded 3 million yuan.

"Villagers are more enthusiastic than ever. Many of them have already opened a restaurant, hostel or cafe," said Zhang.

Ma has recently decorated several guestrooms, which will be open to tourists soon. He also adjusted the tea menu so that customers will have more choices.

"I'm confident the upcoming peak season will offset the losses brought by the epidemic," he said.