The concept of dining in the dark is nothing new, with the first such restaurant opening in Paris in the late 1990s.

Loss of vision is reputed to enhance the other senses, and some of these restaurants aim to raise public awareness about blind and visually impaired people.

Trojan Fairy is one of them, but more than this, since being founded in 2009 it has offered employment and accommodations to more than 80 people with disabilities and has also been involved in other charity activities.

Zhou Haoyu, 26, the restaurant's manager, who went blind when he was a child, said: "We don't need pity. We want to have an equal opportunity to participate in society."

Yu, 49, used to be a surgeon, but in 1999 the retina of her right eye became detached and she almost lost sight in that eye. Although she recovered after treatment, she said she is still haunted by the fear of losing her vision.

As a former surgeon and also a person with a rare blood type, Yu is well aware of those in need and has been doing voluntary work for years.

She joined the blood center in Beijing, where she made donations for the 2008 Olympics.

After her daughter was born in 2009, Yu began to grow more concerned about her child's optical health. She wanted to raise people's awareness of the need to take care of their eyes and their health in general.

However, she asked herself just how many able-bodied people really empathized with the plight of the blind.

"When I founded this restaurant, the aim was to let able-bodied people experience the lives of those with disabilities－not for them to 'think' in their place, but to 'act' in their place, which will leave a more profound impression," she said.