Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Sun Fangting) news: On November 13, 2025, 59-year-old Mayra Salayhon began her day by pushing open the sky-blue gate. She arranged flour, honey, and milk on the wooden table in her courtyard, then carefully brought out the red oven and lifted the white floral cloth draped over it.

The oven has been part of her household for 17 years.

Mayra's home is one of the 88 folk home-visit sites in the Ili old town cultural tourism area. Its blue gate and wooden carved doors and windows glow warmly under the sun, and the floors are covered with elaborate carpets, which are characteristic of traditional architecture in Xinjiang.

At these home-visit sites, tourists can admire the house designs, observe daily routines, and participate in local traditions like handling Usma grass, a plant unique to Xinjiang, baking naan, and making pastries and jams.

Dressed in silver round earrings and a pearl necklace draped over her collar, which was a gesture of hospitality, Mayra said, "My home is over a hundred years old."

The Ili old town cultural tourism area boasts more than 300 century-old homes like hers.

As tourists crowded around, Mayra brought out molds to demonstrate how to make Xinjiang pastries. The visitors clumsily pressed sugar-coated dough onto the table, sparking laughter. With a deft touch, Mayra effortlessly transferred the dough into the baking tray, a skill honed over 17 years.

Photo shows Mayra Salayhon makes pastries. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/ Sun Fangting)

　"This area was all dirt roads back then," Mayra said. "Our family of five depended on my husband's small business, and we struggled to make ends meet." To better their lives, she and her husband spent two years renovating the yard themselves, replacing doors, and painting walls, step by step. "I love Ili's blue skies, so we painted the gate blue," she said.

The courtyard today looks nothing like it once did. Though the vines of six grape varieties have withered, they stubbornly cling to the trellis. Two plum trees, three apricots, and two cherries stand with sparse branches and lingering yellow leaves. In summer, they burst into lush shade and heavy fruit.

Sunlight filters through the windows onto the living room table, where tourists sip steaming tea, snack on nuts and candies, and chat leisurely.

In April 2008, Yining City launched the Kazanqi Folk Tourism Area (now the Ili old town cultural tourism area). It introduced a "courtyard economy" initiative, creating home-visit sites where tourists could immerse themselves in local culture while generating extra income for residents. Mayra was among the first to join.

"Ding!" The oven chimes, signaling the cookies were ready and filling the room with a warm aroma.

"Crispy on the outside, soft inside. Just like I remember from childhood," said Zhang Meiqi, a visitor from Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, as she enjoyed a cookie with a spoonful of almond butter.

After each use, Mayra diligently cleans the well-worn oven. She said it has always been her tool for cooking for visitors. This oven, she added, has given her family a brighter future.

The oven has seen the home-visit site at its busiest. In peak season, it runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., churning out naan, steamed buns, and sweets with little pause. "We've earned up to 30,000 yuan in a month," Mayra shared, noting how life has clearly improved.