After the news hit Harbin of the availability of top-rated domestic workers, all 12 women were immediately hired, days in advance in some cases despite salary demands which put their earnings on par with those of the average county official. Between the ages of 35 and 45, the women all had been laid-off workers before taking the Women?s Federation training and earning their high rating. They all can speak standard Chinese, are familiar with basic service terms, and have developed a specialty in their field.

The highest-rated domestic workers provide diverse services that go far beyond merely cleaning house, according to Zhang Lixin, vice-chairman of the Harbin Women?s Federation. All can easily cook a good meal, for example, but their culinary skills also are accompanied by an understanding of nutrition: They know how to choose vegetables rich in vitamins and how to preserve nourishment during cooking.

The top-rated domestic workers also know something about preventative medicine, interior decoration and psychology. During her employment by an older woman with children abroad, one domestic worker understood her employer?s loneliness and was able to care for her just like her daughter. The worker was often called back to the household because there was more than housework to do there. In a similar case, a man with a chronic illness wanted to buy a chicken especially raised for its high nutrition but did not know where to get it. His top-ranked housekeeper not only found the chicken but cooked it with ginseng and other herbs in a healing soup. Although this top-rated domestic worker charged twice as much as an ordinary one, the employer thought the price worth it, and repeatedly booked the worker to return to his home.

So although the high-ranked domestic workers charge a lot, customers regard the pay as appropriate to an advanced service which conforms with the development of society. Top-rated domestic workers earn between 1,200 yuan (US$145) and 1,400 yuan (US$169.35) per month, which means they can earn more than 10,000 yuan (US$1209.67) in a year. An average domestic worker charges six yuan per hour. A middle-ranked one will charge five yuan more and a high-ranked one 10 yuan more.

More people will be joining the group of high-rated domestic workers in Harbin, according to a representative of the Women?s Federation who said some 300 more laid-off women workers will take part in the professional training that determines rank. In Harbin City, each year some 40,000-50,000 will need part-time help in the home.

Although people in Harbin have welcomed a professional training system that has brought domestic work to a new level of management, Beijing has no such system at present. According to the director of the Tianqiao Community Housekeeping Center in Beijing, workers there receive training in house cleaning and cooking, but at present the center has no top-rated domestic workers as in Harbin. He added if there were to be a demand for such domestic workers, the center would gradually introduce a training and ranking system. According to a researcher from the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a gap in family income creates different demands for service. According to him, most families in Beijing do not have the income for ?high-level? domestic workers but such special services may become popular in the future.

(Dian Kui for 东北网 [www.northeast.com.cn] January 11, 2002, translated by Feng Yikun and polished by Sara Grimes for china.org.cn)