While some may complain about being fed up with clichéd team-building activities; starting the day with a scavenger hunt, spending the afternoon in a boring keynote speaker session and heading home with cheap coffee mugs emblazoned with a company logo, you might just feel lucky after learning of the extreme measures some Chinese companies take to foster so-called “team spirit”.
虽然有些人可能会抱怨厌倦了陈词滥调的团队建设活动；以寻宝游戏开始新的一天，在无聊的主题演讲会上度过下午，并带着印有公司标志的廉价咖啡杯回家，在得知一些中国公司为培养所谓的“团队精神”而采取的极端措施后，你可能会感到很幸运。
Earlier this year, the dancing “da mas” (old ladies) on Nanjing’s Heyan Lu were upstaged by a maddened crowd of young people. It was just after 20:30. when 11 young men and women gathered in a nearby square and started to shout, “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!”, repeatedly as if under a spell.
今年早些时候，南京河安路跳舞的“da mas”（老太太）被一群疯狂的年轻人超越。 就在20:30刚过，11名年轻男女聚集在附近的广场上，开始喊道：「是的，我们可以！ 是的，我们可以！”，重复著，好像被施了咒语。
Standing to attention on a freezing winter night, these young people seemed unaffected by the cold and warmed by each other’s passion. One man who seemed to be the leader of the bunch stepped out and exclaimed to those gathered; “Is Jack Ma rich?” The fervent crowd shouted their answer; “Yes!”
在寒冷的冬夜里，这些年轻人似乎不受寒冷的影响，被彼此的激情所温暖。 一个似乎是这群人的领袖的人走出来，向聚集的人喊道：“马云有钱吗？” 热切的人群高呼他们的回答；“是的！”
“Can we beat him?”
“Yes, we can!”
“我们能打败他吗？” 是的，我们可以！”
The leader went on to demand increasingly more outrageous behaviour. “Who would like to kiss the rubbish bin over there?”
领导人继续要求越来越多的离谱行为。 “谁想亲吻那边的垃圾桶？”
“Me!”, a young lad volunteered.
“我！”，一个年轻人自告奮勇。
To the astonishment of the ladies nearby and everyone else in the vicinity, he rushed to a nearby litter receptacle and offered it a gentle peck.
让附近的女士和附近的其他人感到驚訝的是，他冲到附近的一个垃圾容器前，轻轻地吻了它。
The crowd continued to shout slogans until, all of a sudden, everyone lay down on the cold, hard ground, upon an order given by the leader.
人群继续高喊口号，直到突然间，每个人都按照领导的命令躺在寒冷坚硬的地面上。
“I think they are crazy”, one of the old ladies commented. So did many residents nearby and one of them eventually reported the strange antics to the local police.
“我认为他们疯了”，一位老太太评论道。 附近的许多居民也是如此，其中一名居民最终向当地警方报告了奇怪的滑稽行为。
The overexcited crowd began to cool down when authorities arrived at the scene. The leader told the police that they all belong to the sales team of a company nearby. Their jobs involve selling products door to door.
当当局到达现场时，过度兴奋的人群开始降温。 领导告诉警方，他们都属于附近一家公司的销售团队。 他们的工作包括挨家挨戶地銷售產品。
“These are newbies, fresh out of college”, said the leader. “They are too shy and timid. That’s why we are pushing their limits.”
领导说：“这些是刚从大学毕业的新手。” “他们太害羞和胆小了。 這就是為什麼我們要挑戰他們的極限。」
The company concerned did not offer verification of the claim but online search results show that the firm is notorious for their so-called “creative training methods” for new recruits.
相关公司没有提供对索赔的验证，但在线搜索结果显示，该公司因其所谓的新员工“创意培训方法”而臭名昭著。
In China, similar motivational steps are adopted by a number of small companies that struggle to survive, especially sales companies, restaurants and hair salons. Apart from the most common approaches that are physical exercise and singing emotional songs together, there are also many other imaginative techniques employed to train young recruits, some of which date back many years.
在中国，一些挣扎着生存的小公司，特别是销售公司、餐馆和美发沙龙，也采取了类似的激励措施。 除了最常见的方法，即体育锻炼和一起唱情感歌曲外，还有许多其他富有想象力的技巧被用来训练年轻新兵，其中一些可以追溯到多年前。
On 15th April, 2005, a hair salon in Nanjing made their employees kneel down and “worship” passersby during rush hours on Shuiximen Da Jie.
2005年4月15日，南京的一家美发沙龙在水西门大街的高峰时段让员工跪下“敬拜”路人。
In 2014, a sales company in Guangdong forced their employee to run 5 kilometres on the street in their underwear as a punishment for failure to reach an annual sales target.
2014年，广东一家销售公司强迫其员工穿着内衣在街上跑5公里，作为对未能达到年度销售目标的惩罚。
One of the employees said he did not mind because he was told that billionaires all went through humiliations like this once.
其中一名员工说，他不介意，因为他被告知亿万富翁都经历过一次这样的羞辱。
Closer to home, in our neighbouring Zhejiang province, in April 2015, a web-technology development company made its employees climb the local Huangren mountain in the middle of the night, again for not reaching a sales goal. They were also required to come to work by 5 in the morning and stand up while making phone calls.
离家更近的地方，在我们邻近的浙江省，2015年4月，一家网络技术开发公司让员工在半夜攀登当地的黄仁山，再次没有达到销售目标。 他们还被要求在早上5点前上班，并在打电话时站起来。
Also in Zhejiang, a company in Ningbo made a new rule for all those in management to shave their head. Those who followed the rule would receive a ¥10,000 reward (but must shave every month to remain bald), while those who refused to obey the rule were fired or required to pay a ¥10,000 fine.
同样在浙江，宁波的一家公司制定了一项新规则，规定所有管理层都要剃光头。 遵守规则的人将获得10,000日元的奖励（但必须每月刮胡子才能保持秃头），而那些拒绝遵守规则的人将被解雇或被要求支付10,000日元的罚款。
Another hotpot restaurant in Shenyang City asked its employees to kneel down to their boss while shouting slogans.
沈阳市的另一家火锅店要求员工一边喊口号一边跪在老板面前。
The restaurant said this scene was caught on tape for the purpose of propagating their unique corporate culture. Others brazenly claim that actions such as making their employees do push-ups, running marathons and even crawling on the street can help them reach their full potential and boost morale.
这家餐厅表示，为了宣传他们独特的企业文化，这一幕被录在磁带上。 其他人厚颜无耻地声称，让员工做俯卧撑、跑马拉松甚至在街上爬行等行为可以帮助他们充分发挥潜力并提高士气。
How do employees react to these incentives? When I threw this question to Xiao Li, my hairdresser, he smirked.
员工对这些激励措施有什么反应？ 当我向我的美发师小李提出这个问题时，他咧嘴一笑。
“Would you like to start the day with 50 jumping jacks on the street at 06:00 before heading back to wash 50 customers’ heads for the day?”
“你想在06:00在街上用50个跳跃千斤顶开始新的一天，然后再回去给50个顾客洗头吗？”
Wen Qing, an expert from the Nanjing 12355 Psychology Hotline said these so-called “motivations” are simply just wrong, and merely make employees feel frustrated and embarrassed.
南京12355心理学热线的专家温青表示，这些所谓的“激励”只是错误，只会让员工感到沮丧和尴尬。
“It can be even seen as humiliation of employees that further creates a negative impact on the company’s image”, Wen added.
Wen补充说：“这甚至可以被视为对员工的羞辱，进一步对公司形象产生了负面影响。”
Some years ago it was reported that quite a number of Chinese companies designed military-training programmes for fledging young recruits. “The goal isn’t to make the employees battle-ready, but to instil in them a sense of collectivism and obedience,” one of the anonymous trainers said of the programs. A main goal was to “temper willpower”.
几年前，据报道，不少中国公司为新生的青年设计了军事培训计划。 一位匿名培训师在谈到这些计划时说：“目标不是让员工做好战斗准备，而是向他们灌輸集体主义和服从意识。” 主要目标是“增强意志力”。
Despite what these companies claimed, the whole purpose of team building activities should be to enable better communication, better relationships and ultimately increase productivity in the office.
尽管这些公司声称，但团队建设活动的整个目的应该是实现更好的沟通、更好的关系，并最终提高办公室的生产力。
If a company truly strives to be successful, perhaps some time could be spent thinking about more worthwhile and encouraging methods of motivation, ones that do not involve kissing a rubbish bin. That would certainly be better than complaining about how mean your boss is.
如果一家公司真正努力取得成功，也许可以花一些时间思考更有价值和鼓舞人心的激励方法，那些不涉及亲吻垃圾桶的方法。 这肯定比抱怨你的老板有多刻薄要好。