At a travel agency in Jinan, over 200 workers were fined 50 yuan (£5.70) each for failing to comment on CEO Zhang Ming’s Weibo posts – an array of motivational quotes and company updates.

Mr Zhang later wrote a post stating he is pleased people now understand the firm’s culture and that while “of course people are not happy to be fined”, employees must help promote growth.

That post garnered more than 4,000 comments, but most of them were from disgruntled Weibo users.

One states: “I will tell friends and relatives not to use this travel agency in the future, this is terrible.”

Another reads: “If you agree with this boss, you have a warped outlook.”