Comment on White-gloved butlers a new must-have for China's super-rich

White-gloved butlers a new must-have for China's super-rich

Ironing, suitcase-packing, cooking and Western-style table setting — with knives, forks and spoons rather than with chopsticks — were all part of the final test at the International Butler Academy based in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. The six-week program teaches everything a European-style butler needs to know to manage a rich family's household to the highest standards: from etiquette to organizing trips to exclusive destinations. Zhang, 38, a longtime high school English teacher from Shandong province, took the course to broaden her horizons beyond what she saw as a dead-end career that she felt she "never went beyond the school's gate." Prompted by the popularity in China of the British TV series 'Downton Abbey' and a fondness for anything that looks expensive and feels European, some of China's very wealthy want uniformed employees with white gloves, impeccably trained, who can anticipate their every need. Du Yinuo, a professor of etiquette at the Sichuan Film and Television University, said China's rapid economic growth over the past 15 years has elevated the purchasing power of many people who now "want to taste a certain lifestyle." At least one Beijing company offers a team of about a dozen butlers for full-time household work or for party catering and VIP airport pickups.

 

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