As the city of Kaifeng in central China's Henan Province wakes up to another boisterous workday, a noodle restaurant starts its business in silence.

Apart from the restaurant owner, who also works as the cashier, all other employees from chefs to waiters are speech- or hearing-impaired.

Clad in bright orange suits, instead of verbal communication, the staff at the restaurant use body and sign language, wearing smiles on their faces all the time.

"The noodles here taste good. I never felt that there was any problem in communicating with the staff. I even learned a little bit sign language," a customer who has been eating at the restaurant for over seven years told local media Zhengzhou Evening News.

The 26-year-old Xiaolong worked at the restaurant after he graduated from vocational technical school two years ago. He is offered free meals, accommodation and a decent monthly salary.

"I struggled to find jobs in several cities before being accepted by the noodle shop's owners, who taught me how to make knife-shaved noodles and many other skills," said Xiaolong in a Wechat messaging interview.

The owners Xiaolong mentioned are Sun Xueqing and her younger brother Sun Bin, who co-founded the restaurant in 2010.

Why hire deaf-mute people as workers? This is a frequently-asked question for the siblings.

"Our elder brother and sister are both hearing-impaired. As family members, we understand their obstacles to find jobs and know how to communicate with deaf-mute people via sign language," Sun Bin said.

Shortly after the restaurant's opening, a customer asked if Sun could offer a job to his friend with hearing issues. Without hesitation, Sun said yes and had more applicants one after the other.

"A former staff opened his own noodle restaurant after returning his hometown in north China's Hebei Province. I don't intend to just offer them a job, I hope they can realize their value," Sun Bin added.

Deaf-mute people have far fewer chances for employment in China, but things are improving.

Last year, U.S. coffee chain Starbucks opened a "silent cafe" in south China's Guangzhou City, where about half of the staff are people with hearing loss, as part of an initiative to support the employment of people with disabilities. The shop has a specially-designed ordering system that allows people to place orders without saying a word.

In 2018, China's ride-hailing giant Didi supported their deaf-mute registered drivers after a passenger complained his experience of having been given a ride by a deaf-mute driver, saying "those who are deaf and mute could also register as drivers on the platform as long as they have three years of driving experience and have no mental, limbs and eyesight disorders."

According to Xinhua's report citing a white paper, employment for people with certified disabilities reached 9.48 million in China in 2018. By 2018, there were 2,811 employment service organizations for the disabled, with a total of 34,000 staff.