Baidu's co-founder and chairman Robin Li (center), dressed up in European court attire, performs with employees at the company's year-end party. Photos provided to China Daily

 

Liu Dong's runway photos at Baidu's year-end party made her an overnight celebrity.

Chinese New Year parties are a traditional part of business life, but they have changed with the times. Xu Lin finds out more.

Li Lidan dances in white shorts and 10-cm heels to a popular song by Beyonce Knowles, while a projection behind her shows six rolls of images of her performing. It looks like a segment from a reality show but is in fact a scene from the Trends Media Group's year-end party. "It was difficult to dance in step with the video. I was so nervous but I am excited the dance got a gold award at the party," Li, an image consultant for the group's fashion magazine Trends Bazaar, says of the Jan 12 party.

As the Lunar New Year break edges closer, corporations all over the country are holding such year-end parties. Some are like galas, featuring programs performed by employees, such as singing, dancing, imitations and skits.

Since the South Korean singing group Wonder Girls' song Nobody became popular in 2008, many employees (especially cross-dressing men) like to copy their dance steps at year-end parties.

Another important element of these types of events is that lotteries are held, with Apple products among the most popular prizes.

Afterward, photos of the prizes and the stars of the shows are posted online.

Liu Dong, 23, a human resource employee at Baidu Inc, the leading Chinese-language Internet search provider, recently became an overnight celebrity when her pretty runway photos from her company's year-end party on Jan 7 were posted online.

"It's good to know that our employees are charming, but we're helping Liu return to her normal life after suddenly becoming famous," Han Yan, senior manager of Baidu's internal communication department, says.

"The party plays a key role in promoting our corporate culture. Our boss also takes this opportunity to express his thanks to employees."

Han was involved in the organization of the year-end party.

She says that since Baidu was established in 2000, it has held a New Year's gathering every year, beginning with a banquet that featured some simple performances.

As the number of employees at its headquarters in Beijing dramatically increased, the banquet disappeared. Now, the company's year-end party is held in a stadium for about 15,000 people.

The company invites one or two stars to sing at the party. This year, Taiwan's veteran rock singer Chyi Chin appeared.

Co-founder and chairman Robin Li, vice-presidents and general managers also performed. This year, Baidu's senior management dressed up in European court attire, sang and danced.

"For the party's opening video, they played the roles of ordinary employees, such as receptionists or cleaners" Han says.

Li Juan, from Baidu's human resource department, says, "I love the opening video for the show. It was a multimedia presentation, which had a great effect in a big stadium."

However, organizing such a big party is not easy, and requires patience and careful planning.

"I prepared about one-and-a-half months for our year-end party and often worked overtime until 8 or 9 pm, as I had to finish my own daily work, too," says Xu Ran, 25, from a real estate company in Shanghai, who was in charge of the company's annual party.

Han also says it was a lot of work.

"Ten people were on the team to organize the party. Every day since November, we had so many things to do, and time was limited. The night before the party, the rehearsal lasted until about 3 am," Han says.

Xu says, "We encouraged employees to participate by offering lottery prizes and telling them that our leaders were also preparing programs."

Xu adds the company rented a three-floor cruise ship for about 150 employees and toured the Huangpu River to enjoy the night scenery.

"The cost was about 200,000 yuan ($32,000), most of which covered the ship's rent, the buffet and the lottery prizes," she says.

She says employees value the year-end party because it puts a premium on enterprise culture. The party, she says, makes employees feel a sense of belonging and enables them to learn more about enterprise culture.

Some companies seek outside help to plan their parties.

"We organized more than 20 year-end parties this year, mainly for government departments, State-owned enterprises, corporate groups and financial media," says Jiang Nan, a general manager assistant at Champion-Do Dissemination Co, Ltd in Beijing.

She says the year-end party business has boomed since 2006.

"We are in charge of the whole thing, including the theme, program design and rehearsals," she says.

She says costs range from 300,000 yuan to several million yuan, the majority of which goes to hotel bills, accommodation, meals and prizes. A common treat is to spend one or two days at a five-star hotel or resort, with such entertainments as golf, spas and hot springs.

She says the parties of international and private corporations generally cost more, and are more colorful and fashionable. Bosses like to show off and even make fun of themselves.

She says the lottery is always important, but government departments do not have them.

"Companies with different cultures prefer different styles of year-end parties. The more Westernized the companies are, the more lively they tend to be," Jiang says.

"Government departments, however, tend to be more traditional and leaders tend to be more hierarchical."