Companies and schools in China seem to enjoy having outings for employees. They see it as a morale booster, even though plenty of employees see it as forced fun. I went out on a few with the schools for which I worked — some were sponsored by other companies or government agencies, but a few were planned just for the school.
At the end of my second year, I worked for an English learning center for adults. During the international labor day holiday in May, the school arranged a bus to take the staff to Dameisha — the major tourist beach on the other side of Shenzhen from Bao’an District. It took almost two hours to get there.
We weren’t the only ones there to enjoy the day at the beach. A local factory also had a company outing, complete with an early evening barbecue. I didn’t eat much at my company’s barbecue since none of the food was kept in a cooler and I preferred not to get sick.
In the background of what looks like a landfill is a five-star Sheraton hotel.
