For employees under the service staff of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, meeting and greeting top world leaders is just another day at the office. Candidates are subject to a thorough vetting process, which is then followed by rigorous training.
"Service staff at the Great Hall of the People often serve foreign officials, so they have to be elegant," said an official responsible for the management of the Great Hall of the People.
Potential employees, who must be between the ages of 17 and 21, also have to meet certain physical requirements, such as a minimum height and a better-than-average eyesight. After the interview and initial health check-up, candidates go through a background check that covers family members' and close relatives' profiles as well as possible criminal records. As a result of the strict selection process, recruitment ratio is usually low.
Selected candidates are then required to undergo military training, according to Shu Siyu, a staff member who went to a Wuhan-based vocational college for air stewardess training prior to her successful recruitment in 2013.
Shu shares that during her training, she was tasked with cleaning 3,000 chairs and desks at the hall everyday. She also did exercises for her arm muscles and practiced proper standing and sitting postures.
"There are strict standards for each of our actions and the layout of tableware," said Shu. "During important conferences and events, we practice pouring a cup of tea tens of thousands of times."
Mastery of the Hall's floor plan is essential to a successful performance, Shu explains. She practices everyday from 6:20 a.m. to 10 p.m. to familiarize the building's layout. On important events, she only gets to sleep for two to three hours.
There is also no room for life outside the Hall since service staff are only allowed to go out once a month for a maximum of two hours. Shu and other employees live in their dormitories, which are divided into male and female divisions.
Due to the overly strict nature of the job, many resign after years of working.