The school that serves up butlers

The number of wealthy Chinese continues to rise, prompting greater demand for highly trained domestic servants. Li Yang reports from Chengdu

'Can a newspaper really be ironed, and what for?" asked Pei Yuchen, an office clerk at a State-owned enterprise, after reading about a school for butlers in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The 30-something's second question was: "Can a butler really make 1 million yuan ($152,000) a year?"

Pei, who grew up in a rural family in East China's Shandong province, is now considering quitting her job, which describes as "boring and predictable", because she believes working as a butler for a wealthy family will not only fatten her purse, but also be an eye-opening experience.