Shenzhen Airlines has recruited the mainland's first flight attendant from Taiwan, who will start working during the upcoming Spring Festival.

 

The 22-year-old Zeng Yilun is currently in a training program in Shanghai. In August 2004, Zeng, who reached the finals of a beauty contest in Taiwan, quit it in order to come to the mainland to study at an institute for aviation staff training in Hebei Province.

 

Zeng's path to becoming a flight attendant has not been smooth. Two airline companies had turned her down before Shenzhen Airlines recruited her.

 

Zeng said she was quite satisfied with her life on the mainland. She admitted that she couldn't wait to start her life in Shenzhen. "I will apply what I've learnt to my work," she said.

 

Zeng also said she would like to stay on the mainland to pursue her career. "My whole family might also come to live on the mainland in the future," she said.

 

Li Yongyan, an official with the Shenzhen Airlines, said that while Zeng was the first flight attendant from Taiwan working for a mainland airline company, but she would definitely not be the last one. "We would hire more flight attendants from outside the mainland," she said.

 

(Shenzhen Daily January 6, 2006)