When Marco Polo travelled to Hangzhou, China 700 hundred years ago, never had he thought he'd be creating a job of social media ambassador in the 21st century in China. On May 20, one lucky foreigner would be selected to become the modern-day Marco Polo, getting a free 15-day trip to the scenic city of Hangzhou in China, and rewarded $55,000 in the next year for working part-time to promote the city to the global audience. Five finalists from Australia, Romania, U.S., Switzerland and France were in the final race. They came from a pool of 700 applicants from around the world, carefully selected by the Hangzhou Tourism Commission on their familiarity with China, social media presence and adventurous spirit. Located about 100 miles southwest to Shanghai, Hangzhou is home to 844 million population and among China's richest cities as measures by per-capita GDP. Traditionally, Hangzhou is known for its charming West Lake, a UNESCO world heritage site with traditional Chinese stories and tales, and the Grand Canal, which travels from Hangzhou to Beijing and was a key route of transportation in ancient China. The city's mild climate and charming environment drew 97 million tourists last year, contributing to 6.5% of the city's GDP. The lucky winner would start an all-expense-paid trip to Hangzhou, which, in addition to visits to tourist sites and tastings of delicious food, also would include a four-day ride along the Grand Canal and three evenings spent at a local resident's home. "It is in fact a part-time job. How you work that out efficiently is your problem," Liam Bates, perhaps the strongest competitor because of his fluent Chinese, said. "We will see how hard it is to meet these numbers." Liam Bates was most likely to get the job mainly due to his   _  .
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