Foreigners carry mushrooms they cultivated, Sept 30, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

"Mushrooms are more and more welcome as a vegetarian diet is trendy nowadays. With easy and green mushroom cultivation, I want to add mushrooms to the crops planted at our farm in France," said Frenchman Yvan.

He added: "I traveled to China to learn mushroom cultivation after learning about the organic mushroom cultivation at the base from the Internet."

Unlike Yvan, Miller from the US said he wanted to learn how Chinese peasants live by spending more time talking and working with local mushroom growers.

Wang kept in touch with her students after they returned to their home countries. "Catherine from Australia told me she has built a greenhouse at her farm and harvested oyster mushrooms," she said.

Wang added that foreigners learning at the base don't need to pay any fees since their accommodation is offset by their work, while appealing to more young Chinese to grow mushrooms.