Tilman Resch (left), a 24-year-old student from Germany, spent just 1,600 yuan ($258) for his recent 10-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai. Here he is pictured at the apartment of host Su Xiaofang (second from left). Gao Erqiang / China Daily

Surf's up for young adventurers as more Chinese open their hearts and homes to the international couchsurfing community, paving the way for budget travel in exotic landscapes and busy metropolises.

Su Xiaofang from Fujian province cannot afford to travel the world so she is making the world come to her - by hosting couchsurfers from overseas.

The 27-year-old, who works and lives in Shanghai, is an active member of couchsurfing.com, the largest hospitality organization for travelers to find free accommodation and meet new people of all races and creeds.

"I don't have enough money to globe-trot but now I don't have to because so many people, from America to Russia, sleep on my couch," said Su, who started hosting strangers in early 2012.

Inspired by her first experience of couchsurfing in Moscow, she came back to Shanghai and rented a double-deck apartment in the city with her sister.

In the past two years, she has hosted over 100 people from about 40 countries, as well as one cat and a rabbit.

"It has allowed me to befriend a shocking range of people - two scientists from Czech Republic, two French street performers, a British practitioner of taichi, a Russian cyclist - and I didn't even have to leave home," she said.

The couchsurfing website was launched in the United States in 2004. It now has over six million members from more than 100,000 cities. Most of its registered members are aged 20 to 30.