As China Inc goes global, buying up the likes of Italian tyre company Pirelli, its executives are looking for more subtle ways of introducing their businesses to the rest of the world. It is the commercial equivalent of the Chinese government’s recent foreign policy decision to discard hard-power projection¹ in favour of soft-power persuasion².

随着“中国公司”(China Inc)走出去、收购意大利轮胎企业倍耐力(Pirelli)之类企业，中国高管们正寻找更微妙的方式，将业务拓展至世界其他地方。这种策略相当于中国政府最近的外交政策决策——放弃硬实力投射、转向软实力游说——在商业上的映射。

The shift is partly because whenever a Chinese company acquires an overseas company, questions are raised about its intentions. Will it move jobs to China? Does it intend to strip the target company of its best technology?

这种转变在一定程度上是因为，每当中国企业在海外收购一家公司，总会有人质疑其意图。它会将就业岗位迁往中国吗？它打算拿走目标公司最先进的技术吗？

In their search for new marketing³ techniques, some Chinese executives have discovered what for them is an unusual tool — international sponsorships of popular sporting events. The famous Volvo Ocean Race, for example, might one day become the Geely-Dongfeng Ocean Race.

在寻求新的营销手法之际，一些中国企业的高管们发现了一种对他们而言非同寻常的手段——为流行体育赛事提供国际赞助。例如，著名的“沃尔沃环球帆船赛”(Volvo Ocean Race)，或许有一天会变成“吉利-东风环球帆船赛”(Geely-Dongfeng Ocean Race)。

The Volvo Ocean Race, the 21st century reincarnation of the venerable Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, is arguably already a Chinese-sponsored event in all but name. Its eponymous owner-sponsors are Swedish truck and heavy-equipment maker⁴ Volvo Group and its former sister unit, Volvo Cars. Volvo Cars is now a division of Geely, the Chinese automaker, while Volvo Group recently completed its purchase of a 45 per cent stake in the commercial vehicle operations of Dongfeng, a state-owned group based in central China.

“沃尔沃环球帆船赛”的前身，是诞生于上世纪、受人尊崇的“怀特布雷德环球帆船赛”(Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race)，本世纪起更名为现用名。现在这项赛事可以说已经是中国人赞助的赛事了，只不过冠的还是沃尔沃的名头。沃尔沃环球帆船赛的所有者和赞助者，是瑞典卡车和重型装备制造商沃尔沃集团(Volvo Group)及其前姊妹公司沃尔沃汽车(Volvo Cars)。沃尔沃汽车现在是中国汽车制造商吉利(Geely)旗下公司，同时沃尔沃集团最近完成了对东风商用车业务45%股份的收购。东风是一家总部位于中国中部地区的国企。

One of the more unpredictable outcomes of Volvo Group’s partnership⁵ with Dongfeng was a decision by the latter’s commercial truck unit to sponsor one of the six boats in this year’s iteration of the sailing competition.

沃尔沃集团与东风联姻，带来的更让人始料未及的一个结果是，东风商用车决定在今年的帆船赛中赞助7支船队中的1支。