A CUP of coffee, a furry “bear claw” and an uneven hole on a gray wall. This is the view from the outside of a special coffee shop in Shanghai, which has garnered wide attention on social media recently. And the story behind the shop has melted the hearts of customers and Chinese netizens. Hinichijou, a coffee shop located on Yongkang Road in Shanghai, is actually a public welfare program which aims to provide jobs for people with disabilities, according to its founder. The store manager is a hearing-impaired barista who has won several prizes at coffee-making competitions and the person handing out coffee with a “bear claw” suffered facial burns. Both of them were graduated from the training school of Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation. Customers can scan the QR code hanging on the wall and place their order. Then the coffee will be handed out from the hole on the wall by a furry “bear claw”. Customers can also interact with the “claw” during the waiting time. Sometimes the claw will send roses and even pat a customer’s head. There are also other employees at the shop, and if customers have any questions concerning the products, they will walk out from the shop and answer them. The cafe also offers customers with disability certificates a cup of special coffee for free. A week after its opening, the coffee shop has become a viral hit, but there are also doubts. For instance, questions have been raised about hygiene. “Is the ‘bear claw’ hygienic?” “As the shop is just a hole on the door, customers can’t really see its environment, can the hygiene be guaranteed?” Wang Haiqing, one of the founders of the Bear-Claw coffee shop, responded to netizens’ concerns. “People who take orders have good hearing, because they have to hear customers clearly, but most of the baristas in the store are hearing-impaired. There are many ‘bear claws’ and they are changed and disinfected every day.” Wang assured everyone that although customers can’t see inside the store directly, it has government-issued business license and hygiene inspection certificate. Despite the doubters, many netizens expressed their trust in the coffee shop on Weibo. The coffee shop began its trial Nov. 15 and opened officially last Thursday, coinciding with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. At the beginning, customers were attracted by the shop’s special and interesting service mode. But when they got to learn about the story behind it, more and more people began visiting the shop to show their support. “I hope more shops like this would open in the future,” commented @Lisixi on WeChat, China’s most popular instant messaging app. “The civilized level of a society can be found in how it treats its disabled. I hope more companies can offer job opportunities to people with disabilities, helping them participate in the social life more equally,” commented @AidiEddie on WeChat. In fact, this is not the first cafe to hire people with disabilities. Starbucks opened two “silent” cafes in China, one in Beijing and the other in Guangzhou, where they employed people with hearing or speech impairment. According to the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, there are more than 85 million people living with disabilities in the country, accounting for 6.21 percent of China’s total population. (CGTN) | 