China restaurant features villains from martial arts novel who cook using kung fu techniques

A restaurant in China which lets its staff play popular characters from a famed martial arts novel to interact with customers has trended on mainland social media.

Xiangyang Courtyard in Xiangyang, Hubei province, central China, which opened in September, features martial arts performances, the Jimu News reported.

It is decorated in the style of classic gardens from ancient China.

In addition, some employees are dressed up as leading characters in the martial arts novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

The book, written by the late Hong Kong wuxia novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung who is better known by his pen name Jin Yong, is one of the most popular literary works in the Chinese-speaking world.

According to some viral videos, one of the restaurant’s workers plays Huang Rong, the heroine of the novel, while serving dishes to customers.

Another employee appears as the character Mei Chaofeng to knead dough because Mei is well known for her skill in killing people using her signature powerful “nine yin skeleton claw”.