Hooters has a birthday song! It ain't too short, it ain't too long! Sing it right, you get your wishes, sing it wrong, you do the dishes! Sound off, happy. Sound off, birthday.

With those few lines, sung to the tune of the US Army classic, Sound Off, a bevy of hyperactive waitresses in tiny shorts created a scene that was the stuff of every teenage boy's dreams.

Certainly, the 25-year-old birthday boy in question on this night looked as if his own dreams had come true, surrounded as he was by six squealing young women at Beijing's first Hooters, the latest addition to the Yankee food chain that is conquering the world on the backs - or rather, fronts - of its bubbly staff.

But, according to a Shanghai Hooters Girl, the Beijing crew was somewhat lax in their treatment of this birthday boy last weekend.

At the Shanghai restaurant, a customer who visits on his birthday must stand on his chair and stick two menus beneath his arms as chicken wings while the ladies gather around to sing.

City rivalry aside, the famous Hooters Girl get-up -- bright orange high-waisted shorts, tight tank top, shiny beige nylon stockings, white socks and sneakers -- is being worn with pride in the Chinese capital.

The Beijing restaurant, Hooters' fourth China location, was packed and noisy on our Saturday night visit. The crowd included American teenagers who seemed more interested in flirting with one another than trying it on with the perky servers. At another table, a middle-aged male patron told his waitress he didn't catch her name, prompting her to lean forward and theatrically pull at the name tag on her shirt.

Seated behind us, a Chinese couple aged in their 40s topped up their own drinks from a bottle of vodka that stood on their table among plastic platters loaded with buffalo wings and twisty fries.

Our waitress was an example of why Hooters in China works a little differently than in down home America. "Fifi" - they all go by English names - scrawled her name in pink ink on a napkin and plonked it down on our table before turning on her heel and skipping off without another word, returning some time later to take drink orders. Fifi had made obvious effort with her appearance that evening, matching that lurid orange with sparkly blue eye-shadow.

"It's not raunchy - they are just cute," came the assessment of another woman in our group, following the Hooters Girl line-up for a minimal energy dance routine.

Their repertoire also includes the Hokey Pokey, hula-hoops and clapping, while the Hooters Girl songbook lists such classics as Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a Little Teapot and You are my Sunshine, besides a couple of versions of the Birthday Song.

Undeniable cutesy potential, which when coupled with the Chinese woman's penchant for Hello Kitty and tendency to shyness marks an even greater departure from the in-your-face sex appeal that is the US Hooters Girl's hallmark.

Then, there is the obvious physical divide between the brash, blond and well-endowed cheerleader types employed stateside, and their rather more petite oriental sisters. On its website, Hooters acknowledges its name is American slang for "a portion of the female anatomy".

The chain says its owl logo and theme are sufficient to allow debate over the name's intended meaning. But the Hooters brand loses its double entendre through its Chinese translation: "American Owl Restaurant".

At Beijing's September opening, one young server was asked what she thought "hooters" meant. She said it was a reference to the noise made by an owl - which, she added, was an extremely "cute" bird, like the Hooters Girls themselves.

The chain first opened in Florida in 1983 and now has nearly 450 global locations.

Contact the author at viva_goldner@yahoo.com.au

(China Daily 11/21/2007 page15)