Zaozhuang tourism picks Li Yang as adviser

The tourism authority of Zaozhuang city in East China's Shandong province said it has hired Li Yang as an adviser due to his experience in language teaching, even though Li is involved in a domestic violence scandal.

Li, a self-styled evangelist of the English language and creator of the "Crazy English" teaching method, was hired as a tourism development adviser by Zaozhuang city's Tourism and Services Industry Development Committee.

The move stirred debate because Li was accused in August 2011 of beating his American wife in front of the couple's daughters. The couple is in the middle of divorce proceedings.

"Li has a rich experience in English language teaching. He is well known for his high-intensity Crazy English' lessons. That's why we chose him," said Dong Yejin, deputy director of the committee, said on July 3.

"We hope he can help us train more staff to have a good command of spoken English to better serve the growing number of foreign tourists heading to the city," he said.

The number of tourists the city receives annually has increased from 1 million in 2009 to 18 million in 2011, Dong said. As tourists increase, the task of training high quality guides becomes more demanding, he added.

Ye also said that they hope to attract more tourists with Li's celebrity status.

"We can't reject a person because of a mistake. We should give them the chance to correct it," Ye said.

However, many people don't agree with that assessment.

"The government should think twice when choosing a spokesman. It doesn't help to have a celebrity involved in scandals promote its brand," said a local official on condition of anonymity.

"It sucks. They just want to earn money," said Li Dongdong, a local resident, on his Sina Weibo account.