The weird and wonderful Spring Festival bonuses

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Europe

Written by Li Jing‍

As the Chinese New Year approaches, many people are anticipating for their year-end bonuses, seen as a reward for their hard work. And while some companies generously give away cash, cars and apartments, others reward their employees in quite unusual ways.

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In January 2014, a real estate company in central China’s Henan Province distributed 11 million yuan (about 1.6 million US dollars) worth of shareholder dividends to its employees. Some people carried as much as 2 million yuan of cash in bags.

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A high-tech company in China's southern city of Shenzhen gave away luxury cars as gifts for its best performing employees in 2016.

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In 2012, a company in central China's Hubei Province gifted apartments as New Year’s presents to 71 employees.

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Last year, a park in Guangdong gave out golden Buddha statues, each containing 10 grams of gold, to its employees, wishing them good luck and fortune in the coming year.

But wait, just don’t become jealous yet – not all companies compensate their employees generously.

Here are some gifts you may not want to receive for the New Year.

Some people have complained receiving celery, laundry detergents, and even a 2-yuan lottery ticket, which may or most likely may not entitle them to the five-million jackpot.

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Some companies also try to flex their creativity to make the gift-giving experience memorable – or not. In 2015, a Shenzhen-based company gave a “heartwarming” gift for its employees, as managers washed their employees’ feet.

Before the Spring Festival in 2014 and 2015, a company in Jiangsu Province gave away ponies, goats and even pigs as gifts, since it was the Year of the Horse and Year of the Goat respectively.

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In Taiwan, a company went as far as giving away coffins to their staff in 2011, which stunned many people. But it’s not what you’re thinking. In Chinese, the pronunciation of "coffin" is the same as the characters that mean "get promoted and become rich.”