6,000 Chinese workers break record in France

Employees of Chinese company "Tiens" attending a parade on May 8, 2015, in Nice organised by CEO Li Jinyuan as part of the two-days celebration weekend for the 20th anniversary of his company. -- PHOTO: AFP
Employees of Chinese company "Tiens" attending a parade on May 8, 2015, in Nice organised by CEO Li Jinyuan as part of the two-days celebration weekend for the 20th anniversary of his company. -- PHOTO: AFP
Employees of Chinese company "Tiens" attending a parade on May 8, 2015, in Nice organised by CEO Li Jinyuan as part of the two-days celebration weekend for the 20th anniversary of his company. -- PHOTO: AFP

NICE, France (AFP) - More than six thousand employees of Chinese group Tiens, enjoying a holiday in France at the company's expense, on Friday rounded off their trip by setting a new world record.

The members of one of the biggest Chinese groups ever to come to Europe arranged themselves on the Promenade des Anglais in the southern resort town of Nice to spell out the phrase "Tiens' dream is Nice in the Cote d'Azur".

Guinness World Records inspectors were on hand to watch the feat and duly declared that the visitors from China had created the longest human-made phrase visible from the sky.

The mass trip to France, and the stunt in Nice, were organised to mark 20 years of the Tiens business conglomerate which operates in a variety of sectors from biotech to tourism.

Group president Li Jinyuan booked 4,760 rooms in 79 four-and five-star hotels in Cannes and Monaco. The Chinese tourists also required 146 buses to drive them around.

The city of Nice was estimated to be some 20 million euros (S$30.1 million) better off for the mass visit.

Earlier the group visited the tourist sites of the French capital Paris.

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