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January 12, 2010

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Home 禄 City specials 禄 Hangzhou

Luring guests with pretty boat women

By Xu Wenwen | January 12, 2010, Tuesday | Print Edition

POETS have likened the West Lake to a beautiful woman and now tourism officials are hiring pretty girls to sing, dance, pour tea and row boats. Xu Wenwen puts in her oar. Hundreds of pretty girls with talent and culture recently competed furiously to become boat tour hostesses on the West Lake, compared by ancient poets to a beautiful woman for its lovely scenery.

Twelve young women were chosen last month in the city-wide competition to take part in the tourism program "Twelve Girls Singing on Huafang."

Soon they will be onboard large tour boats, singing songs, poems and bits of opera, dancing, playing musical instruments, demonstrating tea ceremony, flower arranging and calligraphy - and in other ways illustrating Chinese culture of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

Around 1,000 years ago poet Su Shi, famed for extolling wine, women and song, wrote: "The West Lake looks like a fair lady at her best. Whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed."

Back in 2006, 20 attractive young women were recruited to row small tourist boats, the idea being that women would attract more tourists than men. Eighteen still ply their trade, some sing and one performs Yueju Opera excerpts.

Tourism officials believe pretty girls (whether at the oars or elsewhere) will charm visitors touring the West Lake on large colorfully painted boats (huafang) that can accommodate dozens of guests. Ever year around 40,000 visitors take these big boats around the lake.

For hundreds of years, the nobility, literati and celebrities have enjoyed boating parties on the lake, entertained by pretty, cultured women. The guests composed poetry, appreciated music and viewed the landscape, often in moonlight.

In choosing the 12 lovelies, officials were exacting in the test that has been compared to the selection of airline hostesses.

The main task of the young women is to act as tour guides, telling the history of the West Lake and Hangzhou and recounting charming stories. But they must also be able to give classical Chinese music and cultural performances.

Requirements: youth, pretty face, attractive shape, a way with words, some artistic talent and a college degree.

Tests include bearing and manners, excellent spoken Mandarin Chinese, some use of a second language.

All the chosen young women majored in language, art or tourism management. They are capable in calligraphy, tea ceremony, Chinese dance, flower arranging, singing Yueju Opera and playing instruments like the guqin (plucked seven-string Chinese zither).

They will receive further training in their new job.

During Spring Festival they will begin performances. The shows will mainly be performed on holidays.

Apart from the boat guides and entertainers, other attractive young women are doing serious physical work on the lake. The first batch of female "boatmen" appeared more than 40 years ago.

Tourism officials believed that good-looking, well-spoken boat women would definitely be a draw, especially if they could sing. Simple working boatmen didn't adequately convey the grace and charm of the West Lake and elevate the Hangzhou brand.

So they added some class and recruited 20 women in 2006, 18 are still rowing about the lake.

Requirements: regular features, adequate Chinese with standard Mandarin accent, at least a high-school diploma and ability to swim. Any artistic ability is a plus.

One of them is Chen Meifang, the one college graduate who rows a boat and sings famous excerpts from Yueju Opera. Her affability attracts many customers and she's the envy of quite a few boatmen.

"Rowing a boat isn't easy for girls," Chen says. "They get tanned in the strong sun in summer and their skin gets dry in the chilly winter wind."

But she likes it and gets nice tips.

"It makes me happy to receive visitors coming from all over the world," she says.

"I feel like a star when they take a photo of me or applaud after I perform an opera aria."

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