But China’s rich continue amassing ever greater fortunes and want what they see as the trappings of respectable refinement. Even under Mr. Xi, butlers are finding growing work as symbols of good taste, according to people in the business. “Some of them discover that in reality they can’t trust an outsider to manage the household,” said Tang Yang, a marketing director at the butler academy. “They’re unwilling to have a butler who knows all the information about the family.”PhotoRelatively few graduates of the academy end up as traditional household butlers. But the worry that information could be used to rob, extort or prosecute them has discouraged many rich people from taking butlers into their confidence.

Source: New York Times January 14, 2017 18:12 UTC