Most Chinese companies hold their annual party right before Spring Festival; ours was last Monday. These holiday parties aren’t like anything I’ve seen in America. They are bigger, ridiculously unprofessional and absurdly entertaining. Granted I didn’t understand about 90% of what was said during our party because it was in Chinese, but I still really enjoyed myself.
The evening was scheduled to start at 5:30 with the expectation that everyone would head directly over after work. My boyfriend Josh and I opted for a late arrival because time in China is flexible (which is my nice way of saying that no one in China is ever on time to anything). We arrived at 6:30 and still had 5 minutes to find our seats and settle in before the program began.
Our annual party was held in a great ballroom with oil paintings of flowers decorating the walls and huge disco balls hanging between crystal chandeliers. There had to be at least 250 people in attendance from all our company’s different centers around Shenzhen and the southern region of China. The annual party at our company is for employees only, so no family or friends except for a few of the female upper-ups who were allowed (or perhaps expected) to bring their toddler children.
The first two hours of the party were the most boring as our company discussed the profits and achievements from last year, set goals for next year, and honored exemplary employees. I myself made it onto the stage twice: once for coming in second in a video contest and once because our center won best center in Shenzhen (in the picture above mine is the tiny head peeking out from the back row fourth from the left). However, much of this portion was long, boring speeches in Chinese so I passed the time with glassfuls of free wine.
After the speeches came the food, also known as my favorite part. Spicy beef buns, steamed fish, fried rice, sautéed mushrooms and greens, sweet potato stew and several other dishes that were delicious though I have no idea what they were. In true Chinese dining style there was more food served than could possibly be finished, though our table did try.
During this time is also when the performances began. Every center is expected to put on a 3-5 minute performance for the annual party. However, after watching (and based on the fact that I actually participated in a performance last year) I think it’s pretty safe to say that my colleagues work in a school and not a theater company for a reason. Though talent did not reign supreme on stage it was very entertaining. We watched dance groups (picture lots of Gangnam style moves), cheerleading groups, homemade movies, singers (something akin to the auditions for American Idol) and even a lady-boy performance.
However, one performance that I was shocked to see at a company function was a leather clad duet dirty dancing on stage to the Pussycat Doll’s Loosen Up My Buttons. I guess it’s only my brainwashed western mind that says sexuality has no place at work because the overtly sensual performance didn’t seem odd to anyone but me and a few other foreign teachers. Honestly, the two ladies were probably some of the best dancers that evening, but in my head I just kept thinking that giving coworkers front row seats to a cooter show is never a good idea (except apparently in China). Their erotic dance was only topped when the CEO joined them on stage for a lap dance while the audience took photos and cheered.
There was also a raffle that happened between performances. If your number was called you could win anything from an electric toothbrush to ¥2000 in cash. However, to claim your prize you had to first shotgun a beer on stage with the CEO. Meanwhile other VPs toured the dining floor drinking a toast with each table. Usually that toast was, “Ganbei!” which literally means bottoms up and you are expected to finish your entire drink. This is when the forced drinking culture of China really started to come out, and everyone started to get really shitfaced. We left around 10:30, before the levels of intoxication reached epic levels (a lesson we learned last year when the final hour of the show featured several different employees vomiting on stage while trying to shotgun their beer).
Should I ever own a company my yearly holiday party will definitely be influenced by my experiences at annual parties in China. There will be tons of delicious food, forced choreographed dancing, ample drinking (though not at the professional level of the Chinese) and lots of prizes; in other words random, ridiculous fun.
Source:
http://marymovestochina.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/annual-holiday-parties-in-china-are-crazy/