A "silent restaurant"

And now we take you to a restaurant run by hearing and speaking impaired people, in east China.

Customers there not only enjoy delicious dishes, but learn sign languages from their silent friends.

PKG

This is a restaurant in Yantai City, Shandong Province.

Staff here can't hear and talk. They communicate with gestures and signs.

We're led to the second floor, where customers dine.

Yang Li, the restaurant's owner, explains to us the pictures hanging on the walls.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) YANG LI, Restaurant owner:

"This picture shows how to say 'surprise' by signs. Pinch your thumbs and index fingers together around your eyes, and then open your eyes widely. That's it. We'd like to introduce more sign languages to the customers."

Here in the restaurants, all are done silently.

Customers make their orders with pens.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) YANG LI, Restaurant owner:

"Customers tick the dishes they want on the menu. The marks can be wiped out. So the menus are reusable. All a la cart, as well as their special requirements. Staff and customers can easily communicate in this way."

Around 5 p.m., the restaurants are going to have the evening peak.

Waiter Wei Jiang is busy serving at a table.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) GAO JINGYA, Customer:

"I asked him how to say "delicious" by signs. Now I can do it."

49-year-old Wei joined two years ago. He used to repair security doors.

When he heard the restaurant is recruiting staff, he didn't hesitate to apply.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) WEI JIANG, Waiter (Interpreted by Yang Li):

"I'm very happy working here. I can not only make friends with other staff, but also communicate with customers. I talked very little with the abled before, thinking they have nothing to do with my own life. But now I can have normal talk with them."

Yang Li says the restaurant was proposed by a leader of Shandong Love Deaf Sign Language Research Center, which dedicated to help hearing and speaking impaired people to find their place in the society.

Without previous experiences, the group started from the very beginning to learn how to run a restaurant.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) YANG LI, Restaurant owner:

"Most of our staff members are new to the business. They just come to meet some others in the same group. We invited some professionals to train them little by little."

Now, most of the staff members are capable of doing their jobs. And the restaurants have won some regular customers.