A police officer attracted a lot of attention while offering
directions to a passenger at the railway station of Guangzhou
yesterday.
The reason for all the curiosity was that he never once opened
his mouth. And that was because he was using sign language to
communicate with a deaf-mute woman.
The woman from southwest China's Sichuan Province, walked away satisfied after
being told what she needed to know.
"In the past, I just had to guess when deaf people asked me for
directions," the officer, Zhu Lei, told Xinhua.
He said he would sometimes ask a deaf-mute person to write down
their question so he could understand them.
Zhu, 24, is one of 30 railway police officers who have mastered
sign language in this Guangdong provincial capital.
The specially trained officers began their patrols of the
station's central square this week, ready to help those in
need.
The Guangzhou railway authorities has apparently taken the lead
in this southern metropolis to offer such training to police.
The first group of officers to receive sign-language training
came from the departments of criminal investigation, social
security, logistics and traffic.
In addition to teaching sign language, professional teachers
from local schools for deaf-mutes were invited to give lectures on
how to communicate effectively with people with hearing
difficulties.
The training courses also included instructions on helping
deaf-mutes and how to communicate with those involved with criminal
cases as well as what to do in emergency situations.
Peng Feiyang, a sign-language teacher, said a special textbook
had recently been compiled for the police to help deaf-mutes in the
city.
Railway police were required to learn sign language after they
cracked a gang last year that included many deaf-mutes.
A police officer from Guangdong provincial bureau of public
security said his bureau encouraged the province's frontline police
officers to learn more skills, including sign language.
Many local residents praised the sign-language training
course.
"The police can better serve the deaf-mutes if they have
mastered sign language," Chen Yunshan, a female office worker, told
China Daily yesterday.
(China Daily April 18, 2007)