Butler (Photo : Stewie Griffin/YouTube)
As more Chinese move up the economic ladder, auspicious signs of wealth have been observed. One sign is owning a $4,500-thumb monkey as a pet during the Lunar New Year, and another is making trips to the Arctic and Antarctica during the spring break.
Others invest in international cinema, while some acquire EB-5 visas in the U.S. to become American citizens. The New York Times reported that some rich Chinese are acquiring English-trained butlers. These Chinese were inspired partly by the American TV drama “Downton Abbey.”
Series Has Millions of Chinese Fans
“Downton Abbey” is a TV series about an English royal family that has a butler. The show is popular in China with an estimated viewers of 160 million, according to a 2014 Vanity Fair article. During a 2014 visit of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang to the U.K., then British Prime Minister David Cameron gave him a script of “Downton Abbey’s” first episode autographed by the series writer Julian Fellowes.
Butler Boot Camps
Although institutions that offer butler training and recruit would-be butlers have been operating in China for over 10 years, in recent years, the number of trainees have jumped, although most of the recruits are Chinese women, unlike British butlers who are mostly men. One such institution is the Chengdu-based International Butler Academy China which has been offering boot camps on managing homes, high living and dinner service that run for six weeks since 2014.
Christopher Noble, an American trainer at the academy, explained the growing popularity of butler service in China to wealthy Chinese vacationing overseas and being exposed to western service. However, some rich Chinese have second thoughts about hiring butlers. The reason is “They’re unwilling to have a butler who knows all the information about the family,” Tang Yang, marketing director of the butler academy, said.
