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 Huang Peipei, the winner of "the most relaxing job in China", says it is luck that makes her the face of a tourist site. Cui Meng / China Daily
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BEIJING - It was billed as the "most relaxing job in China", but the winner of a competition to fill it doesn't fully agree - and she hasn't even started work.
Huang Peipei, 23, who was one of about 3,000 applicants, is already stressed out by events organized to promote the job appointment.
"I think I'd call it the hardest job in China," Huang said. "I was so tired after just a day tour with local media."
Huang will start working at the end of this month as the face of Nanwan Lake islands, a tourist destination near the city of Xinyang in Central China's Henan province.
The job comes with a 300,000 yuan ($44,200) annual salary and involves among other things writing blogs, being featured in advertisements and promoting the lake's tea-growing areas, 61 islets and 100 monkeys.
By comparison, the average salary in Xinyang is about 12,000 yuan a year.
The job requires her to spend most of her time outdoors and walking through tea plantations.
"I might get bored after three months or half a year of doing the job," Huang said.
"The life is just so different from what I've always had, but I will give it a try."
Huang said she loves the peaceful environment and beautiful forests of the area.
"When I was on the lake, I had a sense of peace which I could never get from a busy city life," she said.
"I can almost taste the tea in the air, which makes life wonderful."
The Xinyang government launched the competition in June, inspired by the "best job in the world" campaign in Australia last year. This saw British man Ben Southall get the job as "caretaker" of Hamilton Island, off the coast of Australia's Queensland state, and earning $137,000 for just six months of work.
Zhang Zhibin, manger of Zongheng Shixian Public Relations Consulting Company, which organized the campaign, said the contest drew much interest from all over China.
"We believe that the contest was largely responsible for doubling the number of visitors to Nanwan Lake in June," he said.
Zhang expects that this year, the lake will attract at least 10 million yuan in ticket sales, a 40 percent increase over last year's revenue.
"Besides the economic reasons, the contest also created a good working opportunity for young people," he said.
"Huang is graceful and quiet, but also lively, which is quite match with the features from Nanwan Lake."
Huang was born in Beijing although her grandparents came from Xinyang.
"My grandparents are too old to visit their hometown, so they hope I can see their homeland for them," she said.
In April, Huang visited Xinyang for the first time and photographed Nanwan Lake for her grandmother, including some of her dressed as a tea lady in a traditional Chinese cheongsam.
"Unlike Beijing, Xinyang is a really rural area, where there are only a few photo studios. And it was hard to find a proper cheongsam," Huang said.
These photographs gave her some online fame and within a month, many Chinese netizens were attracted by her smile and the natural views of Nanwan Lake. And the success is believed to have helped her win the job.
Huang, who said she's not good at stage performances, admits she had butterflies in her stomach when all the contestants had to sing and dance.
"I can't even remember what I did that day," she said.
Huang stood out when the contestants were tested on tea - and tea-making - knowledge. Nanwan Lake is known throughout China as the source of one of the country's best green teas, Maojian Tea.
But Huang's appointment has not been without controversy.
Some netizens have accused Huang of sensationalizing herself through this competition.
And a provincial newspaper, Henan Business News, reported that Huang's phone number is the same as that of a recruitment staff of Zongheng Shixian, the company that organized the competition.
But Huang denies this. "I never heard about the company before the contest," Huang said.
"I never thought I would win the competition. Maybe it's just my luck."
China Daily
