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 projection in favour of soft-power persuasion.

　　随着中国公司进军世界，收购个像意大利倍耐力轮胎这样的公司公司似乎稀松平常，然而中国公司的总裁们现在正寻求一种新的方式以不留痕迹的将自己的产品行销到世界其它地方。这也许就是中国放弃硬性进军转而软性熏染的政策在商业领域的体现。

　　In their search for new marketing 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.

　　在中国公司寻求新的营销策略的同时，一些中国总裁已经发现了一个不同寻常的营销工具——赞助受欢迎的国际赛事。例如，著名的沃尔沃全球轮船大赛也许有一天就变成了吉利—东风轮船大赛。

　　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 maker Volvo Group and its former sister unit, Volvo Cars. Volvo Cars is now a division of Geely, the Chinese carmaker, 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，相当于古老的惠特布雷德环球帆船赛在21世纪化身。现在它实际上就是中国公司全权赞助的。这次比赛以公司实名冠名，赞助者就是曾经以制作瑞典卡车和重机械起家的沃尔沃集团和其姐妹公司沃尔沃汽车。现在，沃尔沃已经被中国汽车制造公司吉利汽车收购，而沃尔沃集团最近也买进了东风商用车股份有限公司45%的股份，而东风汽车集团是一家中国国有公司。

　　One of the more unpredictable outcomes of Volvo Group’s partnership 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.

　　沃尔沃集团与东风商用车股份有限公司的合作还出现了一个意料之外的结果，即东风商用车股份有限公司决定在今年的帆船比赛中赞助沃尔沃集团六辆帆船中的一辆。

　　“It’s a voyage of discovery for them because Dongfeng have never been involved in sport and they’ve never done any marketing or real communication outside of China,” says Mark Turner, a former Whitbread competitor who has been involved with the Dongfeng Race Team since its inception.

　　“对于东风商用车股份有限公司来说，这是一次发现之旅，因为他们从来没有涉足体育界，也没有与中国之外的市场做过任何交流。”马克·特纳说道，他曾是惠特布雷德帆船赛的一名参赛者，而这次也参与了东风帆船赛。

　　The Volvo Ocean Race’s penultimate leg runs between Portugal and France, where Dongfeng last year paid ?800m for a 14 per cent stake in Peugeot. “You can see that in quite a negative way in France — a Chinese company coming in and buying into a French company,” Mr Turner says. “Or you can see it through this kind of sponsorship. It gives Dongfeng’s brand a soft outer shell because it associates them with a sport that French people give real credit to and respect. Offshore sailing in France is huge.”

　　沃尔沃环球帆船赛的倒数第二场比赛是葡萄牙对法国，去年东风商用车曾用80亿欧元收购法国标致汽车公司14%的股份。“你可以以一种消极的方式看待这件事，那就是一家中国公司进入法国，买进法国公司。”特纳先生说道，“或者你可以积极得看待，这是一种赞助。因为帆船是法国人真正喜爱且尊重的一种比赛，因为赞助这项比赛就无形中给东风汽车品牌加了一层柔软的外壳。在法国人看来，帆船离岸远行是很重大的一件事。”

　　The boat, sponsored by a Dongfeng unit whose main manufacturing operation is in the inland Chinese city of Xian, was near the top of the table going into the race’s most challenging leg — from New Zealand to Brazil via Cape Horn. Only a freak demasting in the Southern Ocean cost Dongfeng its fifth consecutive top-three finish.

　　东风商用车的主要生产基地在中国西安。它赞助的帆船在最为激烈的一场比赛中——从新西兰途径好望角到巴西——几乎荣登榜首。只是一次在南大洋的失误让这只东风赞助的帆船与冠军失之交臂，仍然位列前三，这已经是它连续五年荣登榜单前三名了。

　　Dongfeng’s decision to sponsor the boat has paid unexpected dividends. Before veering off into the Southern Ocean, this year’s Volvo Ocean Race traced the route of the fabled maritime Silk Road, which the Chinese government is hoping to bring back to life with a $250bn-and-growing infrastructure investment drive. The contest has also featured port calls in some of Dongfeng’s most important markets, including South Africa, the Middle East and Brazil. This allowed the company to fly about 50 Pakistani clients and distributors to the finish of leg two in Abu Dhabi.

　　东风商用车股份有限公司此次赞助还做出了一些意料之外的举动。在转弯进入南大洋之前，此次东风环球帆船承办方还追溯了中国历史上提到过的海上丝绸之路，中国政府现在正斥资2500亿美元希望可以再建海上丝绸之路。这次比赛的另一个特色是帆船将在东风最重要的销售市场停靠，包括南非、中东和巴西。具体来说，参赛帆船将在50个巴基斯坦国内经销地停靠，并在杜拜完成第二阶段的赛事。

　　In an era in which it is no longer hard to imagine a Chinese rebranding of the Volvo Ocean Race, perhaps the Huawei Daytona 500 is not so distant a prospect either.

　　在这个中国公司成功对沃尔沃进行品牌再塑造并赞助环球轮船赛的时代，我们可以想见没准华为哪天也把代托纳500收购了最终将其成功中国化。