About a four-hour drive from downtown Chengdu, farm stays – places where urban dwellers can get a taste of life on the farm – in Wanshou Village, Bazhong City are grappling with a severe decrease in customers and sales. 

Gu Wenli's is one of the 11 farm stays in the village. 

"Before the pandemic, we made about 1,000 U.S. dollars a day during our peak season of January to May. But it's been a month since I reopened the shop. And I have only earned 1,500 U.S. dollars during this entire period," Gu said.

"I'm currently in a loss-making situation," he added. Since resuming business on March 10, Gu sees just a table or two of customers a day now – a far cry from over 10 tables on a bad day and more than 20 tables on a good day. 

Gu was once the poorest household in Wanshou Village.  

While he doesn't have to pay rent as his home which he converted into a farm stay was provided by the government years ago, he said his food costs and staff expenses outweigh his sales at this point. 

The current predicament is spurring Gu to make changes and diversify his income stream.  

"For one, I have lowered my prices. For example, a shredded meat dish now costs 22 yuan instead of 28. I'll take less profit margin to attract more customers," he said.  

And should things get worse, he plans to expand his farming income.  

"I plan to raise more chickens and grow more vegetables, such that I can also sell to others while at the same time supply them for my own farm stay's use," he said.  

"And above all, I want to learn to promote my farming goods using social media. I've seen how whole chickens can be sold at good prices via short video platforms!" 

Wanshou Village was lifted out of poverty in 2016. Villagers earned an average annual income of 15,600 yuan in 2019, as compared to the village's poverty benchmark of 3,750 yuan. 

Despite this current predicament, he's not worried about being poor again.  

"I have transformed my thinking in the past few years," Gu said.  

"Before operating my farm stay, I never thought of what would happen to my money after using it. But now, I think of investing, of other ways to earn money and to provide for my family," he added.  

"I can't live as I used to, where I am complacent being poor. I actually now think of how to develop myself better, how to better enhance my life."

Li Yong, the Mayor of Xiabamiao Town which overlooks Wanshou Village, said plans are underway to develop more farmhouse entertainment avenues. 

"We also plan to carry out more theme-based activities, under the premise of prevention and control measures, such that we can attract more tourists and increase incomes for our villagers," said Li. 

In the meantime, Gu and other farm stay owners and operators also go through training and field visits to other more advanced farm stays, to learn ways to improve their services.