Two executives from a bank in northwestern China have been suspended from work after a video was circulated on the internet showing staff getting publicly spanked for performing poorly in a training class. 
 
 The video, apparently filmed on a mobile phone, showed eight employees in yellow uniforms standing on a platform when a man with microphone asked why they had ranked last in the day’s training. 
 
 The eight, including four women, listed reasons such as “failing to make a personal breakthrough” and “inadequate team cohesiveness”. 
 
 With a thick stick in his hand, the man said “get your butts ready” and began to spank each of the eight in turn in front of other trainees. 
 
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 After three rounds, a woman on the far right tried to cover her hip and the man berated her, saying, “take off your hand!” 
 
 The 75-second video emerged online on Monday and quickly triggered heated discussion online. 
 
 Many criticised the bank executives for the brutal punishment, which they said had violated the rights of employees. 
 
 Officials from Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperatives Union later confirmed to the news website Chinanews.com that the video was taken on Saturday when the Zhangze Rural Commercial Bank carried out performance training for its 216 staff. 
 
 An unnamed member of staff told the Beijing Times that the spanking was only a part of the training that day and as another punishment 16 employees were forced to have their heads shaved. 
 
 The newspaper quoted another unnamed female employee as saying that the spanking was a part of the training and the man with the stick was a trainer rather than a bank executive as some internet users claimed. 
 
 Jiang Yang, the trainer from the Shanghai Hongfeng Leadership Academy who was filmed in the video, later issued a public apology online for his behaviour. 
 
 He said physical spanking was “one of the most effective ways to raise consciousness”, although he admitted his training methods may not be acceptable to everybody. 
 
 Jiang later told the Beijing Times the aim of the training was to improve students’ way of thinking and to encourage them to be more competitive. 
 
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 Unnamed sources told the newspaper Jiang charges 100,000 yuan (HK$120,000) a day to carry out training classes. 
 
 The Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperatives Union, which oversees the rural commercial bank, said the two executives, including the president of the Zhangze bank, were suspended for failing to assess the training and a special task force had been set up to investigate, the newspaper said. 
 
 The bank would also help employees seek compensation from the trainer, it said. ||||| Video Of Chinese Bank Employees Being Spanked Prompts Suspensions 
 
 The president of a regional bank in China has been suspended after a video was circulated in which an official at a special training session went down a row of eight employees to deliver a hard spanking as punishment for poor performance. A second executive has also reportedly been suspended. 
 
 In theory, the incident might sound like a parody of a corporate motivational session. But as the video shows, the reality was severe: a man wielding a section of wood repeatedly went up and down a row of male and female bank employees, striking them across their backsides for "not exceeding themselves," as China's People's Daily wrote in its translation. 
 
 As the South China Morning Post reports, many people have "criticized the bank executives for the brutal punishment, which they said had violated the rights of employees." 
 
 The punishment was carried out on an auditorium stage Saturday, in full view of around 200 fellow employees of the Rural Commercial Bank in Shanxi province. A video that seems to have been recorded by an audience member soon went viral, depicting the trainer making at least four trips up and down the row of employees and drawing clearly pained reactions from the participants. 
 
 People's Daily provides these details about the bank's explanation: 
 
 "The announcement made by the Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperatives said that this was a 'Breakthrough in Performance' training session for their employees. The trainers were hired from 'Hongfeng Leadership Academy' in Shanghai. One of the trainers graded their performance on June 18, and punished those who ranked bottom by spanking and cutting hair. "The bank said it has stopped the training session, asked the Leadership Academy and its trainer to openly apologize, and suspended several managing personnels from the branch. Economic compensation is in discussion for the spanked employees, said the announcement." 
 
 According to the South China Morning Post, the man identified as the wood-wielding trainer has apologized for his actions. 
 
 Citing the Beijing Times, the Morning Post adds that the trainer, Jiang Yang, explained that he sees spanking as "one of the most effective ways to raise consciousness" — and that he acknowledges that not everyone would agree.
– A disturbing video getting attention on social media shows a row of eight Chinese bank employees on a stage being told to "get their butts ready" then spanked—hard—in front of their colleagues for "not exceeding themselves." The employees had been in a "Breakthrough in Performance" training class, and a man with a microphone asked them each to explain why they ranked lowest in the class, the South China Morning Post reports. After they all gave reasons like "failing to make a personal breakthrough," he whacked each of them on the behind with a thick stick four times. (After the third time, when one woman tried to cover herself with her hands, he yelled, "Take off your hand!") After the 75-second video, taken by someone in the audience, appeared online Monday and went viral, the president and another executive from the bank were suspended. Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperatives Union confirmed the video was taken during Zhangze Rural Commercial Bank's training on Saturday. NPR, citing People's Daily, says at least 200 people were in the audience. An anonymous staff member says that another punishment involved 16 employees whose heads were forcibly shaved. The man doing the spanking was a trainer, not a bank executive, and reportedly charges more than $15,000 per day for his classes. He has publicly apologized, though he insists spanking is "one of the most effective ways to raise consciousness."