As someone who was born and raised in China I just like to remind people that the real meaning of "guanxi" is a function of location and time. i.e. the real meaning of "guanxi" is different from 20 yrs ago to present, and the word has different meaning from small cities to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, also it doesn't mean exactly the same thing from, say, southern China to north east China.
In general in big cities "guanxi" plays a smaller role, while in small cities especially the underdeveloped ones it plays a bigger role, to the extent that even doing some fairly trivial business (or even things like getting a passport or going to hospital) needs you to have some "guanxi". By "needs one to have some 'guanxi'" I mean it's not impossible for one to do without "guanxi" but it's just way smoother and faster if you know someone who can help. That's also one of the reasons people prefer to live in big cities. It's just more fair for young people without acquaintances in every possible field. On the other hand, parents are more familiar with "guanxi".
The existence of "guanxi" also makes people doubt if they have failed to lubricate some "guanxi" if they got rejected or failed for something (e.g. U.S. visa, or a reasonable exam) even if there are other reasons more likely to cause it.
"guanxi" sometimes even helps one to pass the test for driver's license, oh a big facepalm to road security...
(What I said above is not to confuse you guys, the wikipedia page is still worth reading though.)
I guess people from ex-communist countries understand this phenomenon better, where almost everything is obtained as a favor from somebody in a privileged position, to whom you will have to return the favor.
It has a lot in common with corruption but in a communist state it is the norm. Because communism fails at selecting performance, nothing really works and the state institutions are the first affected, but it spreads eventually in the whole society. Thus, the only way to get something is as a favor from someone. You don't go to the institution but you go to someone who "works" there.
So another way to describe these guanxi is : networks of influence with favors as money.
> I guess people from ex-communist countries understand this phenomenon better
I'm always amused when people project a Western-centric viewpoint when talking about China. This has very little to do with Communism and everything to do with China's own history and cultural development.
Chinese culture has always placed a strong emphasis on interpersonal relationships because institutions besides the state have always been relatively weak, and the agents of the state formed a close-knit, elite class that interacted with one another personally.
For over two thousand years, the state bureaucracy has been the strongest institution in China at the local levels. Even during the Nationalist period and in pre-modern times, you'd better believe the average person would a good relationship with their local official if they wanted to get anything done effectively.
Controlling nepotism and corruption within the bureaucracy has been a perennial concern during every single dynasty of China, going all the way to the Qin dynasty in 200 B.C.
Also, you definitely need good interpersonal networks to do business effectively in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, despite the fact that none of those polities have experienced direct Communist rule.
I was born in communist Romania, and what he said is spot on. We called it "relations" (not in a familial sense), and you literally used them to do everything, including getting a passport or going to the hospital. Even basic shopping was a function of "relations". For example as a kid I was surprised to find out that the bakery occasionally gave people half-breads (half a bread or a bread and a half and so on), because we always got as much as we needed, never portions. Because relations.
The Communists in China were actually markedly less corrupt than the Nationalist officials they replaced, and in fact the corruption of the Nationalist administration was one reason they lost the Civil War.
Remember that China was still basically a pre-industrial nation in 1949 -- it's hard to have impartial, clean institutions in a nation of China's size without modern communications and mass culture.
I'm pretty sure Romania was a more modern place than China was before WW2, so imposing a Communist system was a step backwards, but that doesn't generalize to China's experience.
Another guy grown in Soviet bloc here. All former Marxist cultures, no matter geography and prior history, share a substantial legacy in culture, behaviour and psychology. I would know how to get to the bottom of things in Cuba. Transplant a person from communist Albania into North Korea, and sans the linguistic and culinary* difference they'll find themselves at home.
So yes, Romanian experience is very relatable to this aspect of China.
[*] i.e. which unobtainable food items are coveted most.
i was told by a guy from ex-Czechoslovakia that he could tell a joke from his place to a person from China - it would still seem funny to both of them because of the shared cultural norms.
The funny thing is that all communist countries used to be very bureaucratic; however Max Weber says that there is a blessing in bureaucracy - it is supposed to be impersonal, so in theory it should be objective and be able to ignore personal biases/preferences, provided that you just stick to the procedures. Now Guanxi seems to take the better of that theory.
True. We even had a different concepts of travel. Trips to Socialist block friends were valuable; you'd have a chance to buy some deficit things yet you knew it's not really abroad. Tours to "Capitalist countries" (i.e. rest of the world, ranging from the USA to Bangladesh) however were like oral sex to a Catholic priest: rare chance to see sinister but attractive world, and raise your social status among the peers for rest of your life.
> Max Weber says that there is a blessing of bureaucracy - it is supposed to be impersonal, so in theory it should be objective and just ignore personal biases/preferences provided that you stick to the procedures.
Oddly enough it was bureaucracy that was cementing life order in socialist bloc in identical way, and Guanxi/personal corruption is a manifestation of it. This really stems as consequence of implementation of Marxist tenets and I maintain is deterministic and unavoidable. It seems many can't really comprehend how big a footprint Communist effort leaves after its gone. Historic and cultural continuity is typically destroyed or at least mauled. All ex-communist countries have shared experience in the same way all rape victims regardless background have it.
> I'm pretty sure Romania was a more modern place than China was before WW2, so imposing a Communist system was a step backwards
My father would strongly disagree. Communists paid for his education from elementary school and up to college, and made sure he didn't end up doing small scale agriculture like his parents and grandparents.
Before 1940 Romania did have some industry, capital and civilization, true. But if counted by either population or area, a supermajority was simply subsistence agriculture. Communists razed it down, built industry and mechanized agriculture in its place, and crammed people into cities and towns. I'd guess that up to the early 70s it was actually a force for progress, even if only for breaking up old power structures.
After that it was the usual trade-off - less appliances, electronics and luxury goods, but a more relaxed and secure life style. Until 1980, when rumor has it that Ceausescu visited North Korea and fell in love with it. After that things changed, he pushed strongly for full debt payment, and the population suffered.
OP here. Although it is very often for me to call out Western-centric viewpoint on English forums, this time I tend to agree with people from Romania or other ex-communist countries :D.
At least for me, it's more like a communist thing with Chinese flavor than a Chinese thing with communism flavor.
Actually it is more complicated than it appears. As you can see, the whole urbanization process of China happens after communist took power. Many rules in the cities are new, and it's hard to say that the rules take places because of Chinese culture or because of communism, usually both.
One thing that is certainly communism-related is that, because of planned economy and a very restricted market, some very basic things were on a shortage and you need "guanxi" for that. My mom recalls that 40 yrs ago ladies wanted to marry butchers (or the one who sells pork), just because they got more power due to the position they were on. You see Radu mentioned that people get extra half bread due to relations. My parents used to need ticket to buy rice and pork etc. That's where you need some "guanxi" to do basic things. Also, to go to hospitals one needs some "guanxi" because medical resources are limited (and price where controlled). Should it be a free market, private hospitals would be built and shortage would fall.
TL;DR: Because communist countries government grab so much power in their hands, "guanxi" plays a more important role than it used to be.
The importance of a relatively free market should never be underestimated. And Chinese people certainly needs a smaller government. Even today, the market is not as free as it could be and the government is still taking too much power (they made a lot of progress with that power though). It's a much bigger government than any democrats would imagine, bigger than a big government in American common sense!
Simpler than China vs communist, I see it more as a bureaucratic red-tape thing.
For example in Thailand I see Guanxi all the time, granted that it's firmly in the Chinese sphere-of-influence. But I bet if you go to some Central America Bureaucracy and you'll see the same thing.
My feeling is that guanxi/relationships is how you deal with a low-trust environment. If you can't trust strangers to keep their word, because of lack of shared morals and/or lack of impartial laws and their enforcement, then the rational thing to do is to get to know someone before trusting them. Also, get recommendations from people you trust. Work with family, because you know them best of all.
Interpersonal networks are an underlying mechanism in any society and I'm not saying it's bad, but I think it needs to be counterbalanced by an impersonal functional mechanism where you do your job regardless of who you know.
In communist societies this functional mechanism is quasi inexistent and the only thing that keeps that society running is the guanxi . China may have its specific form but I'd say that it is rooted in our deeper human pshichological traits that are common to all of us.
I live in an ex-communist state and we're still struggling with such a guanxi that trancends all major political parties and state institutions, after 26 years since we've "transitioned to democracy".
The major problem is that this close-knit, closed, state parasite is blocking any change and any advancement in society.
"Communist societies are more prone to «favors» because Price discrimination (and other market mechanisms) do not exist."
I'm not sure you got it right. Price discrimination and other market mechanisms existed, more or less, in communist societies too. The problem was that there was this seller's market. A lot of things were scarce, be it natural or artificial scarcity (a gatekeepers induced one), and besides the fact that the supplier could inflate the price a lot, you still had to have connections to have a chance to the bid. Excluding the communist idealistic selfless individuals that did their job as best as they could indiscriminately, the norm was for people to leverage their positions. For one, this way they created "markets" for their supplied services or access to goods. For another, this is how you get what you have or do to worth anything in the eyes of others. So this was besides the currency based market. It was a favor based market that overlapped the first.
I think it's worthwhile to remember that Europe's historical development happened on a much different path than China's, notably the fact that in Europe, no single state, religion, or any other institution was able to dominate at all levels of society, so institutions were forced to vigorously compete with one another for survival.
You had the Church vying against various pre-modern states for political power, and in the shuffle there were also entire towns and regions that had de facto autonomy, as well as guilds and other medieval institutions that were allowed to mind their own business.
In that vigorous competitive environment, you would expect that cleaner, less corrupt, and more transparent institutions would tend to survive. The way these institutions worked were aggressively copied across Europe, as nations vigorously competed with one another to modernize and survive.
In that framework, you would see Communism as a big step back -- instead of clean, independent institutions on the 'Western' model, just replace everything with the state.
China, on the other hand, was basically still a pre-modern state into the 20th century, and hadn't had non-corrupt institutions since the mid Qing dynasty. Pre-modern China had no large nationwide institutions except the state -- its communications technology lagged Europe's, and it also had a huge population.
Just over a hundred years ago, the de facto ruler of China, the Empress Dowager Cixi took all the funds earmarked for naval fleets and dumped into building a palace instead.
The Chinese Nationalists who eventually overthrew her in 1911 spent the next few decades failing to control endemic corruption at all levels of government. One of the reasons that the Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war was due to the deep dissatisfaction everyone had at their pervasive corruption.
In fact, corruption at the bottom rungs of the bureaucracy basically didn't exist under Mao and was aggressively weeded out--corrupt officials were regularly imprisoned and shot. For the average Chinese person, Communist rule, despite its own problems, was a large step forward in terms of quality of life and quality of governance.
TL;DR - Communism in Eastern Europe was probably a step back, but in China it was an improvement on what existed before. Guanxi is how things get done when you don't have strong institutions.
> Guanxi is how things get done when you don't have strong institutions.
Totally agree.
I am saying that from a point on, guanxi is the reason you don't have strong institutions, precisely because they tend to form close-knit circles of power that prevent the forming of strong institutions. It's a vicious circle.
That is so spot on you must've grown up somewhere in the eastern block. This is not some magical positive force keeping society together that we should aspire to emulate - it's a coping mechanism to deal with the horrendous inefficiency of the system. I'll take rule of law over it any time of day.
Honestly, this exists in the West, too. "Who you know and not what you know," and all that - this is true from hiring and firing to lobbying. I'm guessing it's not the social networking that is different, but the rituals around connecting and how you take advantage of those connections.
Yeah, it always kind of bugs me when "guanxi" and "face" get treated as uniquely Chinese concepts. Sure, things like utilitarian relationships and public image are going to differ from culture to culture, but that's true for everything (friendships, birthday parties, etc.). And even within one macro-culture, these concepts are going to be different depending on the region, class, age, background etc.
> it always kind of bugs me when "guanxi" and "face" get treated as uniquely Chinese concepts
Although behaviours, expectations and social constructs vary, we're all human so most probably those of course are not unique to China, but they have a word for it. Like "zeitgeist", "amok", "bon vivant", "maelstrom" or "karma", some things are just untranslatable and warrant bringing the word-concept to other languages as is, crystallising something that certainly existed prior into something that suddenly acquires a more precise (or at the very least less diffuse) shape in the mind, that we can tie nuances to.
Superficially it can seem similar to western ideas of connections and bribes, but it's not, it's different. There are different dynamics at play, so, while in the end, both facilitate transactions, they work differently and the barriers work differently.
- In the west we usually identify distinct types of influence. We even have special words for particular kinds of influence. Nepotism, cronyism, old boys networks, etc. These identify particular types of connection and particular forms of influence. Friendship through a golf club or university hall would be a characteristic aspect of an old boys network, for example. In Finland, you might think of a 'sauna clique' business culture. Also, we think about these types of relationships independently. Someone might be proud of their 'old boy' connections but intolerant of nepotism, seeing one as earned and the other as given. In contrast, guanxi is more of a melting pot. It could mean a lot of things. It's more like the word 'sway' or 'pull' in English, in a networking sense. It incorporates cronyism, family duty, nepotism, friendship, business connections, political power...
- Moral connotations can be completely different. Guanxi is a good thing sometimes, bad thing other times. Giving a key job to your son is bad in a Western company, arguably 'good' in the East. Providing he's not useless.
- You don't leave business networks at the door of the house; guanxi networks permeate friendship/family/business connections. You might not normally introduce a business colleague to a member of your family, in the west. This relates to my earlier point about it being less structured than Western influence systems.
- Reciprocity matters. Let's say I do you a big favour. You pay me back the next day by giving me a set of tickets to get a nice dinner somewhere. By maintaining a balanced relationship we remain friends. In Chinese culture this would be a bit of a faux pas. By repaying immediately and at a similar level to the gift received, you're basically extinguishing the opportunity to develop guanxi immediately - an unfriendly act. Where western relationships tend to be balanced, and quickly, Chinese relationships instead seem to prosper through periods of imbalance, overpayment back, and so on. The scales should not be balanced, they should sway back and forward. This dynamic is characteristic of a good friendship or a good guanxi connection.
Source: sat at the back of a 10-week course on Chinese business studies, during my PhD, and had a friend whose master's thesis topic was contrasting guanxi with western-style 'leverage'. No citations, feel welcome to treat it as hearsay. :)
I don't know what the final dissertation title/theme ended up as, but we talked a lot about guanxi vs other similar cultural behaviours while he was writing it.
The best example that I can think of is the Godfather, the opening scene, oddly enough.
In that scene, somebody wants the Don to go beat the shit out of somebody who beat the shit out of his daughter, and offers to pay money.
In response, the Don asks what he has done to make the other guy disrespect him so.
Guanxi is all about building relationships, not mercenary transactions. In asian culture, if you toss somebody some money for a transaction or a favor, you're treating him disrespectfully as an employee.
When non native companies initially wanted to go into China and failed it wasn't because they could not speak Chinese or because they didn't know the laws or didn't have connections or contacts --it's because they didn't have guanxi. It's something you develop over time, you typically don't buy into it, it's a paternalistic system which heavily favors males into the system of relationships and expectations --which may differ based on many different things (like family, age, power, tally, connections, party affiliation, military connections, acceptance, etc). It's like saying beet sugar is sweet and aspartame is sweet and they are both used as sweeteners, so they are the same thing. It's a very western take on the concept.
I remain skeptical. All the examples you listed have Western analogues, not to mention that the West still also highly favors men. But again, my point was not about the shape of the social graph (men, family, age, organizational affiliations) or the characteristics of the relationships between them, because those will all have Western analogues.
It's useful because it uses a framework for understanding relationships in either culture: trust, bonding, reciprocity, and empathy. Western guanxi and Chinese guanxi can be understood through this framework. While I'm open to the idea that it's a flawed framework, it proves my point that Western culture has analogous social expectations. Less like beet sugar and aspartame and more like bat wings and bird wings - both shaped differently, both used differently, but for the same function. I am interested in the differences, but there will be a fair amount of structural similarities.
I also disagree with your characterization of this perspective as being "very western." Considering guanxi as something fundamentally different from how Western culture works is Eurocentric - very Western, as you had said. Stepping back and analyzing how informal Western reputation systems work in the same light as how guanxi works in China is a way of de-centering the Western perspective and removing the exoticism from Chinese culture.
Can only speak from my experience - I'm a westerner who spent time living with a Chinese family as a 16 y.o.
From my outsider perspective, it's not that there is no western analog; rather the meaning changes with context and therefore it is difficult to translate as a single concept (in English at least).
From your response above, I think that you're correct (from my experience) in saying it is "trust, bonding, reciprocity, and empath", just not necessarily at the same time.
Sometimes it's "trust", sometimes its "nepotism". But it's definitely fluid.
The full paragraph regarding "trust, bonding, reciprocity, and empathy" might help:
"In the Western perspective, trust is referred to as mutual reliability, dependability, and reciprocity. However, in the Eastern perspective, trust is also synonymous with obligation, in which guanxi is expected to be maintained through continuous long-term association and interaction. Whereas bonding in a Western context may refer simply to common interests with the client, bonding in an Eastern context refers to a close friendship with the client. The Chinese system of wu-lune (the basic norms of guanxi) supports this Eastern attitude, emphasizing that one’s fulfillment of one’s responsibilities in a given role ensures the smooth functioning of Chinese society. Reciprocity is also a dimension which is much more emphasized in the East than in the West. According to Confucianism, each individual is encouraged to become a yi-ren (righteous person) and repay a favor with significantly more than one has received. Lastly, empathy is a dimension that is highly embedded in Eastern business relations, more so than in its Western counterpart. The Confucian understanding of ren, which also equates to “Do not do to others as one does not want others to do to him”, stresses the importance for sellers and customers to understand each other’s needs.[19]"
A university student first gets to know the friends of the frat boys. Then go to the same parties as the fratboys to become friends with them. After developing that connection for a bit, he rushes the frat. If he develops a good connection with the right people in the frat, he gets recommended to a job in a big bank due to the connection his friends have with the bank. Depending on how long you stay in uni, it takes at least four years to develop enough connections to finally get into the bank. How is this any different than guanxi? People makes too big a deal with the term guanxi. It is not that different in Western countries. After all, most jobs are gained through recommendation. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/business/employers-increas...
Hmm, that's interesting. I was always puzzled when my Dad would suggest that the reason my PhD is taking so long is that we didn't do some thing that the advisor is maybe expecting in the way of guanxi. It was preposterous of course but maybe in this context it made sense to him.
Don Corleone: We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And you feared to be in my debt.
Genuine question: is that quote an example of this?
>Guanxi largely originates from the Chinese social philosophy of Confucianism, which stresses the importance of associating oneself with others in a hierarchical manner, in order to maintain social and economic order. Particularly, there is an emphasis on implicit mutual obligations, reciprocity, and trust, which are the foundations of guanxi and guanxi networks.
The "hierarchical" part seems to be crucially lacking in your example.
A good example imo of Guanxi networks in the West are College Alumni Networks, as well as the more recent but analogous Startup Accelerator Network. The "older/younger class" relationship makes these Hierarchical.
How is the hierarchial part lacking? Clearly the Godfather is in a higher position, as a result of simply having more associations and mutual favors than anyone else.
Hmm, the "non-official" nature of the power relationship lead me to think otherwise, but I now see your position. (I do still think that Guanxi manifests itself in more "officially connected" ways -- but maybe I just don't know the Mafia hierarchy well enough!)
> But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And you feared to be in my debt.
This is the part hinting at the fact that Don Corleone is in a higher position of power. And since this is Don Corleone speaking, you are missing the way he is being adressed by the one asking the favor - clearly looking up to him.
Hierchical power structures are not just a part of Confucianism, there are everywhere around the globe.
For anyone confused and reading into it too much, it's really just a Chinese word for what is a universal behavior across all human societies.
When Elon buys SolarCity and the CEO is his cousin, that's guanxi.
When your boss gives a promotion to guy who plays golf with him, that's guanxi.
When you give your buddy a referral to a job because he helped you out with yours, that's guanxi.
It's a necessary social lubricant that also spawns nepotism, favoritism, cronyism, corruption, etc and can be found in every business large enough, especially the government.
And unlike what some posters seem to think, it's not a Chinese-only thing. It's a universal thing that has a Chinese word that nicely refers to it, and thus more recognized in Chinese society.
It's also a useful defensive mechanism for clandestine organizations, such as mafias (Sicilian), deep states, and intelligence networks. By only allowing 'family' into the organization you can weed out the risks of informants/law enforcement/rats which might compromise your organization. So the person won't be easily bought or turned. The level of trust is much higher than just a typical self-interest business relationship. Something that goes deeper that you can depend on in the face of adversity and risks.
To what others have said here I'd add that, in my observation, the prevalence of guanxi is connected to a lack of fair, functioning, transparent social systems. You often need connections to get things done, because the existing systems (legal, administrative, etc) simply don't function. This could be anything from getting your kid into school, to being seen by a (competent) doctor, to protecting your company from frivolous, malicious legal action.
I know plenty of Chinese people who are highly annoyed or disgusted by the necessity of cultivating guanxi, but know that they're not going to get what they're after otherwise.
>In 2013, a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) official criticised the government officials for using public funds of over 10,000 yuan for banquets. This totals to approximately 48 billion dollars worth of banquets per year.
Is it just me, or has the yuan significantly appreciated in value...?
This word in Vietnamese is `Quan hệ`. It's very close to China social. `Quan hệ` is important but you do not need to make a friend or a real relationship. For me it's just a little affected or cursory inside my mind.
Extreme lack of trust between all entities (individuals and institutions) is the fundamental reason for the extreme guanxi phenomena in China. Practicing guanxi is for __survival__ in China, not merely for getting a better deal, as is often the case in developed countries. This is the difference those who have lived long enough both in China and other developed western countries can appreciate deeply.
Chinese often try to sugarcoat guanxi. But to put it bluntly, it is for law/rule breaking or law/rule bending favors to acquaintances. Only because the Chinese have practiced it for millenniums as a daily surviving activities, just as eating and sleeping, the Chinese have forgotten that it's an ugly way of life. Guanxi in China is not a shameful matter _at all_, but a proud and face-boosting accomplishment which is often boasted in meetings and banquets, on social networks, and announced publicly and proudly to anybody as a show of strength.
So, the absolute necessity of guanxi, the enormous amount of utilities, the glories associated with it, most people not grown up in China/Taiwan would find it impossible to play at China's extreme level.
What's the secret source to crack guanxi in China? IMHO, it is this: always remind yourself __the lack of trust is at the core of the Chinese society__, and deduce from there. Law and law enforcement are not trustful, so you need to have friends in the government. Business contracts are not to be trusted at all, so constant monitoring and vigilance are absolute necessary during the entire business interaction with your Chinese partner, even though the contract signing ceremony was attended by high level governmental officials and announced on national newspapers! Doctors and nurses will probably give sloppy or delayed treatment because they are expecting money and gifts from you or your relatives before they treat you, if they are not in your guanxi network, so always work on your network to include someone in hospitals. Don't trust the law to punish the bad doctors for such cruelty, there is no such thing. You get the picture. Now anybody still say it's similar in developed western countries? :)
So how to go about build guanxi in China? If you have overcome the unbearable loath on the whole matter and said to yourself, I am gonna play it all the way to fucking make it in China. My advice is, do what the Chinese do. The No.1 approach used by Chinese to build guanxi is to __inject fixed|irremovable elements into your relationship with someone__ if you want to guanxi that person. Such fixed|irremovable elements include things such as born in the same province, graduated from same school, served in the same division in the army, have worked in the same company(maybe at different time), related to each other by blood no matter how distant that is, basically anything that will not change for the rest of your life, and preferably the elements happened in the past, not recently, as history and time add a little seriousness and trustworthiness to it. In contrast, fickle things in relationships (in the eyes of the Chinese) are things such as your abilities and accomplishments, your credentials, social status, the promises made, member of the same club at this moment (this helps a bit but needed further enhancement), etc. Fire up your imagination and creativity to find out the fixed elements in guanxi, promote it, enhance it, and build from there.
>So, the absolute necessity of guanxi, the enormous amount of utilities, the glories associated with it, most people not grown up in China/Taiwan would find it impossible to play at China's extreme level.
People find it impossible to play at China's "extreme level" not because the level is extreme, but simply because of cultural differences. All you have to do is to look at how Chinese friends and American friends treat each other. The Chinese are much more generous in lending money to their friends, or sharing food, or wtv, something that simply doesn't happen in the West. This, of course, also has nothing to do with extreme lack of trust, or attempting to build guanxi for other purposes.
>Doctors and nurses will probably give sloppy or delayed treatment because they are expecting money and gifts from you or your relatives before they treat you, if they are not in your guanxi network, so always work on your network to include someone in hospitals. Don't trust the law to punish the bad doctors for such cruelty, there is no such thing. You get the picture. Now anybody still say it's similar in developed western countries?
There no need in the West for this simply because the health system is multi-tiered. Rich people will just pay more money for better healthcare, thus no need for the whole backdoor stuff.
Anyways, I have yet to seen someone rebuke my argument I wrote previously about how joining a frat and finally getting a job through it is just as "guanxi" as anything else in China.
Back in elementary school, my history teacher taught us to be careful when saying "the <people of a certain group> all..." precisely to avoid the oversimplified brush strokes you are using to generalize one out of six people in the world. Living with some part of said group for a lifetime, let alone a couple of years, is hardly enough to qualify someone to take on the entire group. Saying "the Chinese" all engage in shameful law-breaking practices as second nature is the sort of thinking that leads to things like banning Chinese scientists from US research programs.
That said, guanxi, as a sibling post speculates, is all about trust. It's the idea that beyond a simple task at hand, there is a deeper relationship to be honored, for whatever reason. The "developed" world on the other hand loves the notion of contract and enforcement through the rule of law, so that people wouldn't need to rely on silly things like trust and good will.
"the lack of trust is at the core of the Chinese society" you get it completely wrong. It is the opposite actually. People trust each others to "give back" and that's why guanxi are very effective. That's also why foreigners are not included in these circles: they have proven enough they can't be trusted.
The lack of trust is at the core of the State and the legislative system (cf Hobbes) which is distinctive of Western societies.
I think people don't trust each others to "give back", and that's the reason people rely on guanxi, instead of trusting normal social contract and normal civil relationship between strangers. They want to have extra fixed|irremovable elements embedded (such as born in the same county, having blood relationships, etc, etc.), so they can have a bit protection in social|business transactions, to accomplish anything in China's trust-less environment.
In the past Chinese have lived in small villages. Even though the land is vast, people rarely moved to other places due to lack of means and the atrocious government policies. So ordinary people dealt with relatives and village folks in their entire lives. Trust was based on the threat that you would be practically dead if you behaved badly and were shunned by the village.
Now coming into the 20th century, people started moving into cities to interact with strangers. It's a new and somewhat shocking experience, because most of them only knew the way of life which you just obey the orders from parents/senior family members, follow the old rituals. Unlike the western countries which went through centuries of Enlightenment, the new Chinese cities are almost void of social and civil code, void of sensible law and law enforcement. That's what China has been through in the last century. Quite a few, now escaped from the watchful eyes of folks back in the villages, use the newly gained freedom to conduct unlawful activities, from fabricating their credentials, to using dirty recycled oil to prepare food, all the way to bribing and accepting bribes to drive people away from their home in order to build a shopping mall. So imho ordinary Chinese do not trust each other that much. They seek insurance(strong guanxi is a form of it) in all daily interactions, and hope others would behave.
"For thousands of years Chinese have lived in small villages." that's not specific to China.
"instead of trusting normal social contract and normal civil relationship between strangers". What's "normal" to you? Western way of life?
"unlawful activities": because there's no such thing in the West? It is actually the opposite: Chinese people are less prone to do criminal activities, so much that I'd let my 10 yo daughter walk at night almost anywhere in China, while even a male adult wouldn't walk unaccompanied in many places in the West. I do not say that it is because of some special essence of Chinese people, to me it is simply because of a better education.
There is a lack of trust in China's rule of law and beaurucratic systems, which is quite justified. Given that you can't expect the system to work well on its own, the next step is to intervene through the use of family, professional, and personal connections.
Foreigners are definitely included in these circles, it is just that their use is very limited (what good is an English teacher in your network, or a software engineer). Also, the FCPA makes participation dangerous for us Americans, at least. Even giving a doctor a red envelope at a state hospital is in violation.
A very good and realistic, although slightly exaggerated example of the things written here is the book "Party Members" by Arthur Meursault [1]. It has quite a few fantastic scenes describing building and using guanxi as it is done in China on a daily basis. It may seem extreme to those who haven't lived or done business in China, but that's the grim reality of it.
I found this paragraph in the Wikipedia page pretty amazing:
> Roughly equivalent words in other languages include sociolismo in Cuba; blat in Russia; guanxi in Chinese and Vetternwirtschaft in German, protektzia in Israeli slang, un pituto in Chilean Spanish, In Brazilian-Portuguese it is referred to as "pistolão", "QI" (Quem Indica, or Who Indicates), or in the slang "peixada", "Pidi Padu" in Malayalam, "arka" or "destek" in Turkish.
Israel also has/had the similar concept of "protektsiya" (loanword from Russian).
There's a joke (mostly making fun of modern Israeli pretensions to clean modern society) - the kids these days don't mess with protektsiya, they have "connections" (the English word) instead.
Guanxi is a concept that most foreigners will never completely grok. It is not only about relationship. Most foreigners call it even the G-word when spoken about. It is different how we see relationships being maintained. There is a lot more play and rituals involved.
It differs how much it influences daily interactions, citywide or regionally. In Beijing it is noticeable in a lesser degree, but often is perceived by outsiders/foreigners as 'bribing' when a small present is involved.
Edit: I do not mean anything bad. I have lived in Beijing, China for many years (married to a Chinese). Just some foreigners have more difficulty to understand this (as the reasoning why they call it the G-word). I hate to call this a 'cultural difference', as I believe it is mostly related to misunderstanding. This is all due to a different upbring, in a different environment (and receiving a different sense of what is common). This can often lead to misunderstandings as people perceive the actions in the wrong way. It might help to have a look at Cultural Dimensions [https://docs.com/gerard-braad/1061/cultural-dimensions-asia]. This explains some of the things involved. Just a translating it to 'relationship' does not mean it has the same meaning. Many words and concepts are different between cultures. TL;DR It is definitely not the negative words mentioned below. Just 'smoothing' a relationship which seems beneficial should not be seen as brown-nosing. Above; hyh1048576 explained it very well. People blame themselves if they got rejected for something... others might judge them as saying they haven't put enough 'effort' into it. When the relation seems beneficial, they will try to do something to 'smoothing' the relationship. But as mentioned, in Beijing this happens in a much lesser degree but not invisible.
I'm genuinely asking as a Chinese guy: How is it difficult to grok? There's nothing mystical about 'guanxi'. It is literally the Mandarin translation of "relationship", nothing more.
There's nothing uniquely Chinese about the notion that having strong relationships with the right people can make your life easier.
It is all about cultural aspects and how actions are perceived by the other party.
Having a good relationship is important. Giving a token of appreciation is accepted and often expected?
Consider a student who studies abroad and gives such a token to his professor. Totally unaware that a few days later he gets dismissed from the university for bribing. (Or involves a lot of back and forth between the universities to explain the behaviour. This is something we have seen many times)
Now let's look at the foreign manager working in China. Building relationships by exchange of a businesscard is normal. A small gift, like a pen is accepted. But he doesn't know how to respond to a situation when some rituals are involved; such as paying for a dinner. But often relationships extend beyond a business situation and people can ask you for a small 'favour' that is unrelated to business... but can put someone in a very awkward position, as it does influence further business (and often complicates it). Managers who go abroad are sometimes even warned about this when going here. Note: which I believe is also bad as it creates a stigma and prevents from understanding it. Maybe after a few months he understands more of it, but he will likely ignore the reasoning or the actual intent. But again, this is not specific to China (happens in most Asian countries and the West or anywhere else in some form or way).
Agree with you, this is one of the "myth" about China. It seems particularly mysterious to North Americans, but in old Europe everyone knows that the bosses of the big corporations play golf together every sunday and solve their problems informally, opening the way to more formal, contractual procedures. They will also meet regularly with men of power, and get the temperature.
It also work at a much lower level: if you have good "guanxi" with the boss of the abr in front of your door and often brings friends, he will be nice and, say, call you if the cops are coming when your car is not correctly parked.
Also, if you build your own house, some neighbourghs might play it nice and allow you to use a bit of the public road to stock piles of brick or whatever.
All of these mean we are not wild beast living in the forest, neither are we cowboys, we have a to live in a society and having good relationships with anyone around you (upwards, downwards and at the same level) is very desirable.
I would reduce to a stream of words -- boot-licking, toady, lackey, stooge, sycophantic, brown-nose.
I can definitely understand ladder-climbing in the workplace but there are countless instances of people acting without dignity or restraint. It's downright unsightly.
Guanxi is not those things you mentioned. Incidentally, it's not something that is difficult for foreigners to grok - they just need to have some exposure and experience with it.
It's a combination of things that are common to human society. The word refers to a specific group of human interaction strategies, methodologies, and tactics. Its uniqueness lies in its emphasis on specific areas that may or may not have equal importance in a different society with different culture.
I do not think it's particularly more difficult to grok than any other Chinese words or concept that represent non-trivial aspects of Chinese society and culture.
"I like to do things in the formal way. Utilizing the Chinese Guan Xi method is limited to direct contact only. Unless I have no other ways to make things happen. I do like to keep simply relationship with others, instead of a GuanXi just for profit"
I would say this is actually not something very specific to China or East Asia. People actually act like this all around the world, this is especially true in the US, where connections and background are important for a variety of things (even more so than in China), quid pro quo is a commonality, and interest coalitions are unbreakable and control everything. This is just how the human society work more or less at the current moment.
4) Give me an example with two people where one has far more guanxi than another. How are they treated differently by the third party they have guanxi with? (No direct familial relation)
Guanxi is basically a kind of transactional friendship. You make guanxi the same way you make friends, by spending time with people, and going through things together. Some guanxi is built on real friendship (or on something like having gone to the same school together), in other cases it's pretty obvious to both parties that it's just a quid-pro-quo thing. In both cases, though, it sort of looks like a friendship from the outside.
Treating people to dinner and getting them drunk is a pretty common way of building guanxi. I've had people invite me to dinner and give me alcohol I don't want, hoping to then get something out of me later. The whole thing is terribly uncomfortable, largely because I simply don't like going to dinner with people I don't know well, and do not feel like I owe them anything afterwards (if anything, I'm annoyed that they've imposed on my time). Then they call up week or two later and say "hey, can you help me out with this thing", and then I have to decide what to do about that.
Like I said in my other comment, though, plenty of Chinese people don't like working this way either. My friends are real friends, and the people I usually work with are professionals, people who don't need to pretend that now we're blood brothers and we'll bend the rules to help each other. I've been in China for 15 years, and I've seen this kind of professionalism slowly supplanting the old system.
You lose guanxi by pissing off your "friends", or not returning favors. In my case, I can play the "I'm a weird foreigner and don't understand your rules" card, and I've only ever mildly annoyed a few people.
Yes, a lot of Chinese, especially those who have lived in the West for a time, are uncomfortable with the social expectations inherent in guanxi. My parents usually refuse to accept gifts or invitations to dinner from other Chinese that they don't know very well because they know this will usually be followed by a request for some rather annoying favor later.
This also leads to somewhat amusing cultural disconnects. For instance, I was once interviewing a Chinese student for an officer position in the student club of which I was already an officer. (This is at a US university and I'm Chinese American) He came to the interview and gave me a bottle of 7-up.
What sorts of things would they ask for? Also, is there any good "socially acceptable" way to turn down dinners and unsolicited favors and such if one does not wish to become indebted, while still saving face and being polite?
Guanxi is written as 関係, and in Japanese (読み方：かんけい) this means connection/relationship in a broad sense. I don't see anything special to this word or very specific to China at all.
Kankei is used rather literally in Japanese for "connection", without the heavy overloading of the Chinese term:
"The build is broken, did your push break it?" "Uun, kankei nai" = no, it's unrelated.
Which is not to say that Japan doesn't have its own complex web of social obligations and favors (giri, osewa, senpai/kohai etc), they just don't use the same word for it.
It can be used as ビジネス関係 too so I am not sure what your point is. 関係 has tons of implications in Japanese. The expression 関係がよい is also very common in Japanese.
Simply put, if you have guanxi in China with somebody, you can call in a favour from then.
But if you have 関係 with somebody in Japan, then that simply means there's some sort of relationship (vendor/customer, former schoolmates, whatever), not necessarily the kind that lets you call in favours.
> But if you have 関係 with somebody in Japan, then that simply means there's some sort of relationship (vendor/customer, former schoolmates, whatever), not necessarily the kind that lets you call in favours.
That's the same as Chinese, though. If you want to say two people you'd use guanxi (”关系不好“ "guanxi bu hao" “have a bad relationship"). Even your above example is used in pretty much the same way guanxi is used. Here's an example from the Baidu entry on guanxi: "小王跟这件事没有关系" "Xiao Wang has no connection to that thing."
From what you write, it sounds like the Japanese use of the word is fairly similar to the Chinese use of it.
It wouldn't be hard to find another set of Chinese words with identical pinyin but completely different meaning, though. It's a very homophone-heavy language.
For instance, the words for "buy" and "sell" differ only in tone.
In general in big cities "guanxi" plays a smaller role, while in small cities especially the underdeveloped ones it plays a bigger role, to the extent that even doing some fairly trivial business (or even things like getting a passport or going to hospital) needs you to have some "guanxi". By "needs one to have some 'guanxi'" I mean it's not impossible for one to do without "guanxi" but it's just way smoother and faster if you know someone who can help. That's also one of the reasons people prefer to live in big cities. It's just more fair for young people without acquaintances in every possible field. On the other hand, parents are more familiar with "guanxi".
The existence of "guanxi" also makes people doubt if they have failed to lubricate some "guanxi" if they got rejected or failed for something (e.g. U.S. visa, or a reasonable exam) even if there are other reasons more likely to cause it.
"guanxi" sometimes even helps one to pass the test for driver's license, oh a big facepalm to road security...
(What I said above is not to confuse you guys, the wikipedia page is still worth reading though.)