Miss MANNERS - Mark · PDF fileBUSINESS SMARTS, SARA JANE HO IS TAKING ... project an image of refinement and scholarliness. ... etiquette, manners and

WITH HER SWISS FINISHING SCHOOL COMPORTMENT AND HARVARD-GAINED

BUSINESS SMARTS, SARA JANE HO IS TAKING OLD-WORLD ETIQUETTE TO MODERN CHINA.

MARK GRAHAM REPORTS

Lady’s LikesEntrepreneurial Sara Jane Ho is saving her clients from the pitfalls of poor manners

MissMANNERS

second-tier city and is seeking to lure French and Italian luxury brands. She has the nous to know that, in addition to having the commercial premises, it is vital to understand the style and class that are an integral part of the whole European heritage-label shtick.

The idea is that Ho sprinkles a little of her high-society stardust on individuals prepared to pony up the RMB100,000 fee for two-week courses in etiquette. It is, the Institute Sarita’s 27-year-old founder is keen to point out, much more than fundamental schooling in which way the knife and fork are placed at the table.

“We have everything from fur class – at what age do you wear what fur and how do you take care of your fur – to psychology, dating etiquette, to pronunciation of luxury brands,” Ho says. “Piaget, Louboutin and Ermenegildo Zegna are all tough for Chinese speakers.

“I overhauled the Swiss finishing-school curriculum to make it relevant for my clients, and I am always tweaking it to fit my clients’

perfectLy poisedfrom leftStudents concentrate on the finer points of dinner-table etiquette; a participant attempts to peel an orange gracefully without the use of her fingers

“The Chinese always want a face and someone they can relate to, feel and touch, and they really respect education,” says the founder of Institute Sarita in Beijing, a kind of cram-course finishing school for the wealthy. “We are not just training individuals, we are training individuals who are leading Chinese business and social circles. A lot of the change in China is top down, and even the media influence of Institute Sarita has created an impact. People are thinking about it. The media have given me the title Harvard Hong Kong Girl.

“I am an absolute perfectionist. You need someone who has grown up in that lifestyle, and understands afternoon tea and knows how to plan a menu. It has to be someone who is etiquette aware and has that grace and sensitivity.”

Ho’s clients are people who have travelled enough, and observed enough, to realise that a brush-up in the manners department would be a shrewd investment, personally and professionally. A typical institute student would be a woman who owns a shopping mall in a

needs. I also have a class on noble sports – expensive sports such as polo and skiing.

“What defines us from basic etiquette schools in China – and there are plenty of them – is that we are a premium product. We have top silverware and cutlery. My costs are quite high. It was very important for me to teach in very elegant and refined surroundings.

“But sophistication and glamour aside, what I am really trying to do is to teach the philosophy behind the mechanics, and that is where Confucian values come in. I think that China is the country with some of the oldest etiquette in the world because of Confucius over 2,500

years ago. He was already teaching us etiquette and protocol. It is about how society functions, it is the glue that holds society together.”

It is doubtful that the deeply conservative Confucius would have readily approved of savvy and fiercely independent young women entrepreneurs. The philosophy of the bearded sage would tend to suggest he considered a woman’s place to be most definitely in the home. But Confucius and his accompanying values are cited, and appropriated, by all and sundry these days, particularly by people, or organisations, trying to project an image of refinement and scholarliness.

Ho needs no help in that department. A

n the space of a generation, mainland China has been transformed from an economic basket case to the world’s second-largest economy. Hong Kong entrepreneur Sara Jane Ho is now engineering a similarly radical upgrade in an area where there is still much work to be done – etiquette, manners and style. Ho believes China’s newly rich will happily shell out big bucks for a service far more impressive than another Ferrari in the garage, an extra case of Pétrus in the cellar or a further penthouse apartment.

“Nobody learns as quickly as the Chinese”

sophisticated and cosmopolitan individual from a well-to-do Hong Kong family, she has impeccable qualifications and connections. After attending the German Swiss International School in Hong Kong, she headed to Harvard Business School, and then spent time at Swiss finishing school Institut Villa Pierrefeu (established 1954), learning the finer points of manners and style.

“It was a meaningful experience,” Ho says. “I realised that there was so much I did not know, and I thought I could bring the concept to China. The course covered savoire vivre and savoire faire. It is the art of knowing what to do at any given moment. A lot of it is tact, being sensitive to the needs of others.

“You need to think of your neighbour. A friend of mine was just in Tibet and they were learning how to cut yak meat. There was a rule that when you cut it, you have to cut it facing yourself, not out, so whether it is Switzerland or Tibet, Western or Eastern, it is actually not that

different. It is the essence that matters.”Not that any of Institute Sarita’s clients are

planning to chow down with Tibetan nomads any time soon. The aim of the courses is to make them comfortable in any given social situation, particularly in a Western fine-dining restaurant, or a private, non-Chinese home, both of which are potentially alien and intimidating environments.

As well as conducting classes at one of two Beijing locations, Ho takes her gaggle of trainees around to ambassadorial tea parties, cocktail gatherings and upscale fashion-boutique openings, where they have the opportunity to demonstrate their newly acquired social graces and chit-chat skills.

Gliding around the upper society echelons of the capital comes naturally to Ho, who oozes charm and class in a natural, unaffected way. Her cut-glass English is just one of her grab-bag of languages that also includes Cantonese, Mandarin, French and German.

Formal training in the art of etiquette may

well be Ho’s speciality, but she is far from stuffy or overly formal, blessed with a keen sense of humour and a charming laugh that erupts frequently. The only time she becomes ruffled is when asked directly just when prc nationals are going to shake off their reputation for uncouth behaviour.

Ho is adamant that a sea-change is already under way. “I wouldn’t have started this school if I didn’t think things were getting better and better,” she says. “China has 1.3 billion people. I can’t change everybody. No other country has gone though the change that China has in such a small amount of time. In the UK, you had the industrial revolution, which took 150 years to play out. In China, 30 years has changed everything.

“I have so many foreign friends and they complain about what it is like to have Chinese nationals misbehaving in their own countries. They don’t see me as Chinese, but I am very Chinese and quite traditional in many ways, and very proud of my country, and it makes me sad to hear people complaining.

“It will take one or two generations, but nobody learns as quickly as the Chinese. Not so long ago we had the gilded age when the Americans made their money and became rich, and they were going to Italy and buying antiques and buying everything. It shocked the European sensibilities. They were called the ugly Americans, the brash Americans.”

Clearly, there is a nucleus of people who are trying to upgrade their skills, hence the success of Institute Sarita. Most of the bookings have been by word of mouth for the hostess course (RMB100,000) or the debutante course (RMB80,000). That means Ho has a busy schedule and a limited social life. She is only able to host her personal social gatherings twice a week.

One wonders if guests approach with trepidation, worrying if they will be upbraided for slurping soup, or helping themselves to an extra bread roll without being asked. Would-be boyfriends, in particular, must surely be terribly nervous of committing a faux pas. Not so, says Ho, who professes not to be protocol-obsessed, citing a recent motorbike trip to Vietnam as an example of how she willingly ventures outside the cocoon of high society.

“I kind of like it when my boyfriends make mistakes,” she says. “I find it endearing. It doesn’t matter to me. What do I look for in a partner? An emotional connection, someone who makes me laugh and someone who is very self-confident.”

Teatime Ritual one of the most popular parts of Sara Jane Ho’s courses – and the one she spends an inordinate amount of time perfecting – is the British etiquette-testing institution of afternoon tea.

The hostess hires a chef, trained at the French Embassy, to bake the key element – scones – to a recipe that she has personally approved. After growing up in British-ruled Hong Kong, with its ritual of hotel afternoon tea, Ho knows what constitutes a proper spread.

“For most people it is their favourite part of the course. They love it,” she says. “I am very particular. It needs to be just right. The sandwiches need to be cut a certain way, with the salmon and cucumber, or chopped egg. Then come the scones. We make clotted cream and strawberry jam from scratch.”

Crockery and cutlery are, of course, also vital elements. Ho shelled out RMB500,000 for a set of hand-made German plates and bowls that are decorated with 24-karat gold.

If her clients are feeling weary, or have a fit of the vapours, they have the option of resting on sofas and chairs made by French craftsmen at Gilles Nouailhac in the style of the 18th century.

It is fair to say the Institute Sarita premises are rather more elegantly furnished than other neighbouring apartments in the Diplomatic Residence Compound, a favourite choice of address for journalists and diplomats from smaller nations such as Peru or Vanuatu.

The address in itself has cachet and exclusivity, however. Local Chinese are not allowed to rent there, and must show official photo identification before being allowed in by the armed soldiers guarding the gate.

Another Institute Sarita training location is the Yintai Centre, in the central business district. The building also houses the Park Hyatt hotel, where some clients stay. Others opt for luxury apartments they own in the capital.

Input also comes from company president Rebecca Li, who has a similar Swiss finishing school background to Ho and is the representative for a French luxury company in China. The pair were shrewd enough to realise that cultivating guanxi would help their business and, to that end, offered free courses to Ministry of Commerce staff. Those courses covered the basics, including explaining that a black tie event involves rather more than wearing a necktie of a dark hue.

Institute Sarita has had extensive media coverage, which is understandable given that its founder is pretty, articulate and personable. “My clients are all wealthy people and, even when they call, you can hear it in their voices,” Ho says. “They don’t go from bad to good, they go from good to even better. These are not the overnight mushroom millionaires; they are too busy buying Hermès bags. For someone who wants to come and study etiquette, they are already considerate and respectful of other people.”

deLight in the detaiLsfrom left Ho has invested heavily in her etiquette school, even spending RMB500,000 on German crockery decorated with 24-karat gold; Ho is rightly proud of her Chinese heritage p

or

tr

ait

s: J

eff

Xia

; ad

dit

ion

al

ima

ge

s: W

u H

ail

an

g

“No other country has gone through the change that China has in such a small amount of time”