Silent bubble tea shops offer work and hope to deaf Chinese

Speakers: Sam Duckett and Lu Sirui

[photo: from stock.tuku.com]

The tiny Silent Beverage shop in Guiyang in the southern province of Guizhou has attracted curious customers because of its policy of only hiring deaf employees.

The tea shop provides a safe environment for students who graduated from a local special needs high school to improve their communication skills.

Except for one cashier who does not have any hearing or language barriers, other staff communicate via sign language.

Visual aids and menus are prominent on the shop's walls and counters for customers to point to.

Staff members start working there as interns, which offers them real-life training that is not easy to get elsewhere, before being taken on as employees.

The outlet has 16 permanent employees who each underwent a month-and-a-half of training before starting work full-time.

The chain is branching out this month with two more branches being opened in the city, according to China News Service.

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.