'Soundless' restaurant

Pan Yu, 28, is born deaf and dumb. Her husband is also deaf-mute but his surdimutism was acquired after birth. Pan Yu and her husband are of the same age. They work in a hot pot restaurant in Ha’erbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. The restaurant employs 23 deaf and dumb staff members aging from 21 to 39, who serve as chefs, waiters and so on. Deaf staff members account for 50 percent of total staff members.

Pan Yu said that the restaurant recruited deaf-mutes last October. More than 100 deaf-mutes applied for the jobs, including Pan Yu and her husband. Fortunately, they were given the offers. They have worked there for more than three months. Pan Yu communicates with her customers by writing on a notebook. After serving all the dishes, she will tell her customers that all dishes have been delivered by writing on the notebook.

If she notices that certain customer gets drunk, she will write down the words “too much drinking will hurt your health” and show it to the customer. “You may wonder how a deaf-mute could become a waitress. In fact, I feel free to communicate with others,” Pan Yu told the reporter via gesture language.

All the staff members are recruited from various cities in Heilongjiang province. They had gone through strict training before they started to work.