Tour Guide - Leanne Gu
My name is Leanne Gu. I come from Shanghai and I was born in this beautiful city 29 years ago. I have been an English tour guide in this company for 7 years. Now I do love this job and absolutely enjoy it. I graduated from a university called Shanghai Institution of Tourism and I majored in English. Now lots of clients say ‘Leanne, your English is very good. Where did you learn it?’ I will say ‘I learn from you.’ I still remember that when I was at university, my written English was good. We needed to pass the exam and get the tour guide certificate, but few of us could speak fluent English. When I started to work, I had to talk to tourists every day, so gradually my English became better and better. Now I can speak English without any problems.
During these years, I saw people from different countries all over the world every day. I introduced my home town to them and also learned lot of things from my clients. Every time I was on a tour, I would tell people about Shanghai as much as possible. I realized that foreigners are not only interested in the history and culture, but also want to know about people’s life in the city. They want to know if that is how the people live. What is their life like? How do the people think that the city has changed in the recent 30 years? So I would tell them about me or my friends’ life in Shanghai. I would also say something about my parents and my grandparents’ life. I believe that from this, foreign people will have a better understanding of the city life.
Most of my clients are middle-aged and senior citizens. I treat them just like my parents. I understand that it may not have been easy for them to travel so far. They must feel tired after the flight. For most of them, it is the first time they travel to China. Some of them have planned for this trip for over 1 year. They are all looking forward to this trip. I just think that if my parents traveled overseas and couldn’t communicate with other people. I would hope that the guide there would take care of them very well so that they could enjoy the trip. With this in mind, I try my best to make good guidance and arrangements for my clients, and I hope all clients leave Shanghai without regret.
Now I keep on studying and improving myself every day. I get the most up-to-date information about Shanghai from the news and books. I believe I can be a good tour guide and that all of the clients will love this charming city - Shanghai.