Top company executives in China spend on average about RMB 4-5 million (US$ 0.6-0.8 million) per year in executive perks, in contract to their average annual pay of RMB 0.42 million (US$ 0.06 million). A large portion of these perks go toward lavish meals, banquets, gift giving, joint entertainment, karaoke clubbing, and overseas trips. Many average workers or shareholder have complained that such actions by managers amount to stealing from their companies. However, some have argued that these perks improve firm performance. The first argument is that the Chinese business environment revolves around “guanxi” which is the building and maintaining of favorable relationships many perk activities are conducted in the company of important government officials and business partners and are thus considered by some to be a tool for developing business. Another argument for paying the perks is that it is a form of compensation or reward to top executives to encourage them to work hard. As a socialist country, China caps the amount of compensation management staff receive as a multiple of the average worker’s pay. Top executives working for Chinese companies therefore receive much less compensation than those working for international joint ventures. As such, these perks have been promoted as necessary to maintain the motivation of the supposedly under-compensated top executives in China.