More than 3.5 million Chinese travellers have used Airbnb outside China, with the number increasing by 500% during 2015.

It also said that its Chinese hosts have welcomed nearly one million guest arrivals.

The numbers were revealed in an official blog post which also heralded the launch of Airbnb China, a distinct unit within the overall business which has been set up to address specific Chinese regulations around data sharing.

The note talked the talk in terms of its Chinese “community” – it said that outbound travellers “serve as cultural ambassadors for China, educating their hosts in countries around the world about the Chinese culture.”

But it also referenced the Chinese government’s positive regulatory approach to the “sharing economy” which, the government says, will account for 10% of China’s GDP in 2020.

While Airbnb lawyers are kept busy in Europe and the US, China appears to have a different approach. Memorandums of understanding on tourism promotions have been signed with authorities in Shenzhen, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

These four cities have urban populations of 10.6 million, 18.3 million, 11.2 million and 24.2 million respectively.

And it has also linked up with Huashou (sic) Community Elderly Services Center to train and educate senior citizens about the economic and social benefits of becoming an Airbnb host.

The process of firming up its Chinese operations was probably under way before last week’s announcement from China’s Tujia, which bought the homestay business of Ctrip and Qunar. Tujia said at the time that it was restructuring so that its Airbnb-comparable B2C platform would run separately from its development and real estate operations.

Airbnb’s About Us page says that it has welcomed more than 60 million guests, so the 3.5 million from China is a relatively small proportion. It is inevitable that this will grow and having a dedicated Chinese unit and a seemingly good relationship with the authorities will speed up that growth.

As an aside, the other poster child of the sharing economy, Uber, launched a dedicated Chinese unit to help its relationship with Chinese investors and regulators. Uber China was more independent from its mothership than Airbnb China and ended up being sold to its Chinese rival Didi.

Related reading from Tnooz:
Zhubaijia raises $78M to mimic Airbnb in China, just six weeks after a $30M round (Sept15)
Airbnb adds local VC partners to open doors in China (Aug15)