Tourists who visit the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River, located in Linfen in north China's Shanxi Province, are likely to be intrigued by the eight elderly men who offer donkey rides.

Known as the "donkey men," they are actually residents of Zhongshi Village, which is several kilometers from the waterfall.

Like most of the locals, they wrap their heads with white towels, wear coarse clothes and carry long-stemmed pipes around their necks.

In addition to offering tourists donkey rides, they sometimes sing folk songs or perform kuaiban (comic stories recited to the accompaniment of bamboo clappers).

Zhang Jishan is the one the "donkey men" who started the business about eight years ago.

With the booming of local tourism, Hukou Waterfall, China's second largest, has been attracting more and more travelers over the past few years.

Zhang, who has lived in Zhongshi Village his entire life, once took his donkey to the waterfall to try his luck.

His business plan was quite simple - to charge each tourist 2 yuan (24 US cents) for a donkey ride and some photographs with the donkey.

To his surprise, his plan worked out. The tourists, who were from the city and had never ridden on a donkey before, were thrilled to have their picture taken riding a donkey.

Eventually, Zhang persuaded seven other of his village cronies to join him in his new business venture.

Every morning, the eight men get up early and ride their donkeys to the waterfall. When they aren't too busy with their tourists at noon, they like to get together, have a simple lunch, and talk and smoke for a while.

Thanks to their brisk business, their life has been greatly improved. Most of them have built new houses and -- this might surprise you -- have bought motorcycles.

(China Daily November 21, 2003)