When Shen Liqiong began working at a hotel restaurant in Yuyuan Garden 17 years ago, she never  imagined she would one day become a tourist attraction for foreigners visiting the scenic spot.

Shen leads a team of 46 crab openers at the Shanghai Classical Hotel.

When foreigners who are not familiar with the techniques to successfully eat hairy crab order the popular dish, she and her team members do the difficult work, opening the crabs, scooping out the delicate meat, and then putting the shell back together to make it look like a complete crab.

Shen has become a master at the craft, and is able to pull apart one of the eight-legged creatures, scoop out the meat, and rebuild the shell in just four minutes.

"We mainly serve foreign tourists," said Shen. "They have never seen Chinese hairy crabs before, so they don't know how to take off the shells."

Slipping on a pair of plastic gloves, Shen follows a waitress to a table where foreign diners are staring at steamed crabs but unsure how to begin.

After explaining she is the restaurant's crab-eating assistant, Shen grabs one of the crustaceans and flips open the back shell, placing it on the table. Then she tears off the legs and breaks the body into two.

The diners begin to smile and nod at the first sight of the pink crabmeat. Shen continues on, cracking open legs, tearing the shell this way and that, and pilling the meat into a bowl. She then quickly stacks the meatless shell back together to make it look like unopened.

"Skills and interactions with customers are the most crucial part of my job," Shen said. "Seeing my customers are satisfied is even better than enjoying the crabmeat."

The restaurant began offering the crab opening service in October 2000, according to Zeng Linghua, the hotel's food and beverage manager.

"To have employees like Shen is definitely an asset for the hotel," Zeng said. "A lot of the foreign diners bring their video cameras here to film Shen opening the crabs."

"Our service is free for the customers," Shen said after finishing her second crab of the day.

"None of the edible part of the crab will be wasted under my hands," she grins confidently.

(Shanghai Daily November 29, 2005)