World

China’s Mega-Tours Draw Attention Abroad, Critique at Home

Published

9 years ago

May 22, 2015

In this May 8, 2015 file photo, employees of the Tiens Group, a Chinese company which sells medicinal products, including via direct marketing, cheer as they attend a parade organized by CEO Li Jinyuan as part of a four-day celebration weekend for the 20th anniversary of his company, on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, southeastern France. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

DIDI TANG, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — All-expenses-paid trips to reward top salespeople aren’t unusual, but direct marketing companies that are the Chinese versions of Amway, Avon and Herbalife are taking it to an extreme by sending thousands abroad on package tours.

One company is sending 12,700 salespeople to Thailand on a tour that continues until next week. The Infinitus herbal supplement company has outfitted the sales reps with uniforms, the same luggage and even the same umbrellas.

Earlier this month, a medicinal products group sent 6,000 of its representatives to France where they set a world record by massing the most people to spell out a phrase that included their own firm’s name. Yet another Chinese direct seller sent 7,000 people to California last year.

“We are making history!” vice-chairman Xu Guowei of the Perfect China cosmetics company crowed in California during the retreat and package tour. “We have taken 86 flights, stayed in 26 hotels,” he said. “Our group’s attendees have spent $10,000 each this visit.”

The tours are at the intersection of several trends in a country with a predilection for package trips: an explosion in overseas travel, surging national pride and the phenomenal growth in the past decade of direct sales companies. The companies are splashing cash and seeking publicity following a period in which they were banned as pyramid schemes.

But they have also generated debate among Chinese who have become increasingly sensitive to how they are perceived overseas. Some see the tours as tacky ploys by the quasi-evangelical companies to entice new sales representatives to expand earnings.

It takes several months of advance work to book the hotel space and arrange the travel for the tours. A travel agency spent six months planning the France trip.

China’s direct sales market began with the entry of Avon in the 1990s. But the industry plunged into chaos with rampant pyramid schemes, prompting the government to ban the industry altogether in 1998. The ban was lifted in 2005.

Direct selling cuts out shops to sell products or services directly to consumers, using teams of sales personnel who typically get most of their income from a cut of the sales.

Since the ban was lifted, direct marketing has expanded rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of 30 percent. China’s direct sales market is likely the world’s third or fourth biggest behind the United States, Japan and possibly South Korea, said Hu Yuanjiang, executive director for direct selling at China Health Care Association.

After 2005, the industry grew to employ 2.3 million salespeople within seven years. In 2012, the country had 32 licensed direct marketing companies with combined sales of nearly 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion), according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

The growth can be attributed to China’s economic boom, a rising consumer culture and more favorable government policies, and also that direct selling provides low-threshold opportunities for people to start their own businesses, Hu said.

“It also fits into the Chinese culture, where kinships and personal relationships, such as being in the same class or from the same village, are highly valued. They help build trust quickly, which is important for direct selling,” Hu said.

Perfect China’s tour of California last year reportedly generated $85 million in revenue for the local economy, and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait wished them great memories.

The Tianjin-based Tiens Group, which sells medicinal products, including via direct marketing, sent 6,000 employees on a four-day, all-expenses-paid trip to France to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary. They formed the phrase “Tiens’ dream is nice in the Côte d’Azur” on a waterfront in Nice. The French foreign minister met with the company president.

Infinitus is sending 12,700 sales associates to Thailand in shifts of two to three thousand for six-day trips to Bangkok and the beach resort of Pattaya. They are taking 110 flights and shuttling in 400 coach buses until Tuesday. Thai tourism officials expect $18 million in revenue.

The three mass tours have generated media buzz not only in host countries, but back home where some Chinese see them as part of their country’s rise on the world stage. They relish the big spending and the warm welcome from host cities.

The tours also have drawn sneers for their ostentation at a time when Chinese tourists are gaining a reputation abroad for showiness and rudeness. China’s National Tourism Administration has created a new black list to shame tourists who misbehave while traveling.

Hu Xingdou, an economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said the mass tours reflect the desire of Chinese to show off wealth after decades of impoverishment, while the uniforms and shouting of slogans reveal the oddly militaristic corporate culture of China’s direct marketing companies.

“It’s also about brainwashing and instilling loyalty in the salespeople,” Hu said.

Zhang Xiaoyan, a senior business director at Infinitus who went on one of the Thailand trips, recalled local people “gaping” at the travelers who were wearing uniforms, lugging suitcases and carrying umbrellas — all with the company logo.

“I think it helped a lot to advertise our company’s culture and image,” Zhang said.

“Some local TV network reported on us and they called us the largest tourist group in history in Thailand.”

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Related Topics:Amway Avon china China mega-tours China tourism direct marketing direct sales Herbalife Tiens Group tourism

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

Published

10 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.

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Bay Area

Nigerian Bank Chief Killed in Helicopter Crash on Way to Superbowl XVIII

According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept., the crash occurred near Nipton, on the edge of the Mojave Desert Preserve. The poor weather conditions — rain, wind and snow showers—may have contributed to the accident, although the investigation is not complete. All six aboard were killed. Herbert Wigwe, 57, founded Access Bank in 1989, and it became the country’s largest competitor, Diamond Bank in 2018.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Herbert Wigwe with his wife, Chizoba Wigwe, left, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, right. ENigeria Newspaper image.

By Post Staff

The co-founder of one of Nigeria’s largest banks died with his wife, son and three others when the helicopter transporting them from Palm Springs, Ca., to Boulder City, Nev. to attend the fifty-eighth SuperBowl at the stadium outside Las Vegas crashed on Feb. 9.

Herbert Wigwe, 57, founded Access Bank in 1989, and it became the country’s largest competitor, Diamond Bank in 2018.

More recently, Wigwe was planning to open a banking service in Asia this year after making successful expansions to other parts of Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described Wigwe’s death as an ‘overwhelming tragedy.”

Oakland resident and Nigerian immigrant Kayode Gbadebo agrees with Tinubu. He met Wigwe in Nigeria but crossed paths with him in London in 2006. Wigwe, he said, “took risks.”

He was young and people thought he couldn’t do what he intended, which was not so much about money but community.

“He was more like Jesus in washing the feet of the poor– Wigwe was culturizing community,” Gbadebo said.

“There will never be another like him. This is a deep, deep loss” and he hopes everyone will eventually “be comforted.”

He was also disappointed that a replacement has already been named even before Wigwe is buried. “It is not reasonable. You don’t want a vacuum, but it’s” not fair to the family, Gbadebo observed.

Wigwe had also been working to solve the migration issues from African countries, believing that “investing in higher education was key to controlling mass migration, which “is destabilising countries across the world,” BBC News reported.

“We need to take a holistic approach to address global migration, starting with our traditional framework for international development,” Wigwe wrote.

To that end, according to BBC News, Wigwe was preparing to open Wigwe University in Niger, where he was from.

“The best place to limit migration is not in the middle of the Mediterranean or the English Channel or the Rio Grande. It is in the home countries that so many migrants are so desperate to leave,” he wrote, saying his university was an opportunity for him “to give back to society.”

Besides Wigwe and his wife, Chizoba Nwuba Wigwe, and one son, two crew members and Bimbo Ogunbanjo, former group chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, were also killed in the crash.

According to Wikipedia, three other children survive Wigwe.

In his statement reported in People magazine, Tinubu described Wigwe as “a distinguished banker, humanitarian, and entrepreneur.”

“I pray for the peaceful repose of the departed and ask God Almighty to comfort the multitude of Nigerians who are grieving and the families of the deceased at this deeply agonizing moment,” the president said.

He added, “Their passing is an overwhelming tragedy that is shocking beyond comprehension.”

Besides feeling the tremendous loss, Gbadebo fears the disorder and greed that will follow. “It’s a mess,” he said.

People magazine, BBC News and Wikipedia were the sources for this report.

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Activism

No Valid Reason for Failing to Condemn Hamas’ Act of Terrorism

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed the Israel-Gaza border and indiscriminately slaughtered Israeli civilians in their homes. They killed nearly 300 young people at a music festival and took at least 200 hostages including 30 children. The atrocities they committed included massacres of families, abduction of the elderly and children, burning of babies and rapes of women.

Published

6 months ago

November 3, 2023

Oakland Post

iStock image.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr.

California Black Media

OPINION

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed the Israel-Gaza border and indiscriminately slaughtered Israeli civilians in their homes.

They killed nearly 300 young people at a music festival and took at least 200 hostages including 30 children. The atrocities they committed included massacres of families, abduction of the elderly and children, burning of babies and rapes of women.

The horrific surprise attack deserves universal and unequivocal condemnation. President Joe Biden called what Hamas did “an act of sheer evil” and pledged to defend the lives of Israelis and Jewish Americans.

He said, “Let there be no doubt. The United States has Israel’s back. We’ll make sure the Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have.”

Hamas killed approximately 1,400 people including 32 Americans. Citizens from 40 different countries including the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Thailand were killed or reported missing.

Hamas fighters breached Israel’s border defenses on the final day of Sukkot while soldiers were away due to the holiday and launched attacks on 22 towns outside the Gaza Strip. This security lapse has been described as a catastrophic failure of Israel’s intelligence agencies..

Hamas is an extremist Islamist militant organization that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is recognized as an Iranian-backed terrorist group by the U.S. and the European Union and has a long history of violence against Jews and Palestinians, the latter of whom they often use as human shields.

While there have been plenty of groups who have unequivocally condemned the massacres, there are a number who haven’t, including organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Black Alliance for Peace, Red Nation, and independent Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapters (excluding the national Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation).

The DSA San Francisco chapter put out a statement on Oct. 9 that said, “Socialists support the Palestinian people’s, and all people’s, right to resist and fight for their own liberation. This weekend’s events are no different.”

Student organizations at a number of universities and colleges in California signed a solidarity statement titled “Resistance Uprising in Gaza” from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The statement attributes the violence of the Hamas attack to what it refers to as Israeli apartheid and occupation.

The SJP statement written by Bears for Palestine at UC Berkeley says, “We support the resistance, we support the liberation movement, and we indisputably support the Uprising.” Essentially, these students are indirectly associating themselves with Hamas’ barbaric acts under the guise of “resistance.”

Signing the statement were 51 student organizations including those from Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, CSU Sacramento, and USC.

A statement signed by 34 Harvard student organizations said, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

Many university leaders, where these students are enrolled, have been guilty of failing to unequivocally condemn Hamas and for inadequately addressing their students’ expressed support for Hamas.

Several Stanford faculty members, including three Nobel laureates, condemned Stanford’s administrators’ weak response to acts of terrorism and the expression of pro-Hamas sentiments by students on campus.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It dismantled 21 Israeli settlements in the territory and handed them over to the Palestinian Authority.

The assault by Hamas on Oct. 7 was not an ordinary clash with Israel. Hamas’ actions resulted in the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

While there are valid reasons for protesting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and a real reckoning with the Israeli government on its policies is long overdue, nothing justifies Hamas’ attack.

Israelis who were killed largely had nothing to do with the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza. Some of the victims weren’t even Israeli — they were just tourists.

The students blaming Israel for the atrocities committed by Hamas have faced criticism. Some groups have withdrawn their endorsements because of the backlash aimed at them. Others have doubled down on their activism. SJP held a “National Day of Resistance” on several campuses.

Several CEOs have asked Harvard to disclose a list of members from the organizations assigning responsibility to Israel to insure they do not hire any of their members. A Berkeley law professor has also urged firms not to hire his students who have publicly blamed Israel for the war.

This California Black Media report was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.