After Downton, affluent Chinese seek butlers

Chengdu

MAO once said that a revolution was not a dinner party. But with the communist revolution turning into opulent capitalism, China's rich are making sure the dinner party settings are immaculate and the wine is poured just right.

Inspired in part by the Downton Abbey television drama, the country's once raw and raucous tycoons are aspiring to old-school decorum, fuelling demand for the services of homegrown butlers trained in the ways of a British manor.