Videos of 77-year-old Xu Xiuzhen, who speaks different languages with foreigners while working at a place of interest selling water, postcards and headdress flowers, have made her famous.
Xu's village is located at the foot of Moon Hill, which is a popular tourist attraction. She has been working asa tour guide in Yangshuo since 1998.
To support her family, Xu, who dropped out of junior school in the third grade, began to learn different languages in order to attract more foreign customers.
Xu said she would convert(转换) words in any language into Chinese characters based on their pronunciation and then memorize them.
Repcating the words in her head before going to bed and immediately after waking up has made it easier for her to join in basic conversations with foreigners, she said.
Over the past 20 years, Xu has taught herself 11 foreign languages, including English, Sparish, Japanese and Korean. Xu has also become one of the busiest tour guides in Yangshuo. She draws à large crowd of tourists every day, especially foreign visitors. Not satisfied to simply serve as a tour guide, she now owns a popular restaurant and operates a hotel as well.
"More and more foreign tourists are coming to Yangshuo, and I hope they will feel at home here with my help," she said.