Several labor groups are going after many companies over the well-reported inhumane working conditions that occur all over the country.

Now, pictures have surfaced on several Chinese news blogs and social media platforms, such as the Twitter-like Weibo, which have fueled anger over the country’s cruel labor practices. The photos that circulated were of a group of uniformed employees in the southern city of Chongqing circling around an outdoor monument located in a commercial area, crawling on their knees.

Chongqing Employees Crawling
Employees at a cosmetics company were seen crawling for an exercise to challenge their "resilience to pressure" on Thursday. The photos went viral and angered many Chinese netizens. ChinaSmack.com

According to a report by photo blog ChinaSmack.com, the bizarre sight drew a crowd of onlookers and even the attention of the local public security office.

“Through investigation, this was an exercise a cosmetics company gave their employees to train them to deal with pressure, and the police have already persuaded them to leave and have also criticized and educated the organizers of the company,” the authorities posted on their Weibo account.

Chongqing Employees Crawling
Employees at a cosmetics company were seen crawling for an exercise to challenge their "resilience to pressure" on Thursday. The photos went viral and angered many Chinese netizens. ChinaSmack.com

China’s Internet population was not as quick to move on from the situation.

“This boss is finished! His good intention has ruined the name of his company! Such low behavior, how did he come up with something like this?! What would the customers feel if they saw this!” wrote one Weibo user.

“This is not challenging their resilience to pressure; this is making people completely give up their bottom line as a human being,” a different user added.

Others were less surprised.

“This is the reality [in China]. Some people have to put up with all kinds of unfairness and humiliations for survival.”

Many others noted the irony that the incident occurred just a day after China’s May 1st Labor Day national holiday.

“Where is the laborers' dignity?”