Youth Quest : Beijing Inn

Beijing Inn
Appreciating the diminishing skills of traditional Old Beijing Inn-Keeping.

All innkeepers below 18 had to keep a special kind of 'childen's hairstyle' (Hai-er fa).

The 5 youths had a special task of trying out to be an inn keeper at an Traditional Old Beijing Inn for a day.

All the 5 youths took on different roles.Their job might look like normal waiters. However, there were many special skills involved.

They were put under their Shifu (teachers) who had been innkeepers since young. Their Shifu were extremely strict with them because it required a lot to learn the skills

Pearl was to usher guests at the door. Everytime somebody enters or exits, she had to shout in perfect Chinese the number of people entering and leaving the place.

Magdalene had to serve customers the food, which happened to be quite heavy. There is a special tradition for the Zha Jiang Noodles, where 7 dishes of ingredients has to be hit against the bowl before serving.

All these had to done on the same time, balanced on a heavy tray, which was no easy feat.

Pearl and Magdalene in their separate roles.

Ban Yong taking care not to spill the Chinese tea.

Read about the youths experiences in
Adopting Panda | Rural School | Shaolin

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Ban Yong had to serve Chinese tea. Tea was poured out with a metre long sprout. Much care had to be taken not to spill any of the hot tea on the customers.

Alvin and Julian were the waiters and they had to memorize all the names of the dishes. This was also not easy considering they are unfamiliar with the unique Chinese dishes.

Their mission ended, and this time, their Shifu had to serve them food and tea. The role were reserved.

However, the youths appreciated the food more as they learnt who was behind the normal inn keeping. They would also never forget stories and ambitions told by their Shifus on the Inn's rooftops.