Own a vacant yurt in Mongolia? Has the tenant recently moved out of your yak-hair tent in Tibet? Admit it: if you own property anywhere in the world, it must have at least crossed your mind to sweat that asset by renting it to strangers.

Airbnb.com, internet doyen of the flat-sharing economy, has been making exactly that point with an advertising campaign on the New York subway recently: whoever you are, however humble your digs, you too can be a hotelier. Local governments may not agree – under New York state law, for example, many such short-term rentals are technically illegal – but Airbnb is still listing rooms in 192 different countries, in everything from tree houses to igloos.

Now the culture of flat-sharing is catching on in China – where it used to be called communism. Gone are the bad old days when “landlord” was a dirty word, and squeezing four families into a flat built for one was just another one of Mao Zedong’s brilliant ideas.