In China's Booming Butler Schools, Only the Best Will Do

They clutch hefty porcelain plates in quivering white-gloved hands, praying the metal warming covers don’t betray a percussion rumble that will incur the instructor’s wrath. Upon the order to advance, the eight aspiring butlers glide around a long dining table, positioning each plate between the polished silver cutlery. Synchronizing with a hawk-like peripheral gaze, the newbies then whip off the plate covers with a well-rehearsed flourish: lift, flip, pull to side, retreat.