Job Discussion Forums

[tofuman]

From time to time I read a post wherein guanxi is mentioned. "I have a little guanxi with a local attorney," for example. I think not. You may be acquainted with a local attorney, but you have no guanxi. The simple meaning of the term is relationship. Almost by definition, no blue-eyed devil can have guanxi with a Chinese.

I have a foreign acquaintance, a caucasian, but not English speaking by birth. He first came to China in 1969. He was here briefly on business at that time. He has spent many years in different parts of Asia, been in
China steadily now for several years, and is married to a Chinese woman.

He does not have guanxi with the family of his wife, but is only beginning to develop it, maybe. And that after several years of marriage. True guanxi exists between Chinese family members and clans, and may go back generations. It is not unlike the relationships between hasidic diamond merchants who conduct business verbally and conclude deals with a handshake.

Why be co-dependent to a Chinese? If it's abuse you want, I can direct you to some neighborhoods in South Central or East Los Angeles.

[amandabarrick]

In the minds of many Chinese, there are 2 different kinds of guanxi. The guanxi you are talking about is the highest form, between family or clans, going back generations, etc... But guanxi can also exist between friends and, contrary to what you may think, guanxi can possibly exist between a foreigner and a Chinese person. The man you mention who is married to a Chinese woman may not have the highest form of guanxi with his inlaws yet, but he obviously has guanxi with his wife, why else would they marry?
But if you think you will have guanxi with your boss, you are probably mistaken.
AB

[Sinobear]

Quid pro quo - you can, indeed, have guanxi here. When the Chinese trust you enough - favors can be asked and granted. There's always a price for them, but it's amazing how easy life can be once you've established those all-important connections.
No, we'll never be 100% accepted by the Chinese, but certainly, we can also provide those all-important links in our homelands that the Chinese could not forge themselves.
Drinking with someone does not make them your friend. If you can extend that relationship beyond the in-bar stage, then you have a friendship that you can barter with. It doesn't seem right, as we define friendship, but it is the Chinese way.
As I see it, credibility and respect (take note - drug users and China detractors) will and can get you much further in China than goodwill, intentions, or mere mouthings of faux-positisms ever will. Guanxi - real connections, are the key to a stress-free and happy life here.

Cheers!

[ContemporaryDog]

I think having guanxi is fairly important for foreigners, if they plan to stay here on an extended basis. It appears, after all, that most of the best (well paying) tefl jobs are only available to those with guanxi...

[tofuman]

I agree that there are two types of guanxi . Real and fictitious. BEDs can enjoy only the latter which is contrived to advantage the local.

As for guanxi with your wife, that's going to cost you the price of a fangwu, in most cases. Is it a reasonable exchange for a warm body on a cold China night? Perhaps....

I avoid most opportunities for "guanxi." I really do not want relationships based on deceit, subterfuge, or greed. Nearly every relationship I've forged here has been so lopsided that it is simply not worth it.


But that's me.

[Roger]

Am honestly a tad puzzled by the mention of a "guanxi" Chinese enjoy within their own family. Never heard of that, though I don't a priori deny it may exist.
But the guanxi I invariably hear about both from overseas natives and locals is the kind of special rapport that exists between people who have the power to peddle influence. It never seems to me very different to what the British used to call "old boys' network". Anything more sophisticated would be largely over the heads of ordinary Chinese.
A number of my employers strongly hinted they had enormous clout over the local authorities, including the PSB. A Shenzhen boss of mine actually said, "here I am the law, not the CHinese laws!".
He was a little wrong about the latter; he ignored deadlines in applying for a visa and to the bad end thought his "good" name would carry the day; it didn't. He had to fork out extra money to buy a visa extension, then go through the ordinary motions of procedures any applicant has to.

On the other hand, the wide extent of acceptance of corrupt ties may in the minds of CHinese move the defining edges of the concept of "friendship". Anyone who does you a favour seems to be your "friend". Students elect to call you their "friend". It always comes with an extra burden of responsability, though. This may be why even ordinary customers are called in shopping malls "our dear friends".

[tofuman]

The first I ever heard of guanxi was from a friend, several years ago. He had been an FT at a college or university and was expelled for "religious activity." His wife was so upset that she left him for a Chinese guy. He was here with his wife and children. The experience destroyed their family

Obviously, he may not have been a good source from which to learn about guanxi.

You may have to be a criminal or an official to really understand guanxi, or at least involved in some shadowy activity.

[cj750]

If you know someone and things are going good...you've got guanxi

If you don't know someone and things are going bad...you don't

If you got it..make use of it fast because it will pass...

[kev7161]

I never kissed bu t t back home and I don't do it here. Most of my friends would say that I'm helpful, honest, forthright, and hard-working. In America, those traits tend to make friends and good business relationships. I do tend to complain too much (whine?) but often I'm complaining about things that affect a group of us and not just me (my students, the other FTs, etc.).

I have made Chinese friends here and some of them help me when I need it, but in over 1 1/2 years I've also grown pretty independent so I don't need their help as often (but I do desire their friendship). If I don't like something such as high prices, elaborate visa or travel fees, crooked principals, etc. then I'll walk away. Stupidly, I decided to stay at this school a second year and only have discovered more recently what a sad sack school it is. If I was planning on staying in China, then I would be packing my bags now. As is, I'm going back to the real world in August, so I just grin and bear it for now. But I don't kiss the behind of my principal nor do I of my department director. I still ask for small things here and there and I generally get them. But that's because I (mostly) do a good job and I show up to work every day and (most) of my students enjoy me.

[Wearjak]

There's no guanxi for foreigners with the Chinese.
Guanxi is definitely an abused word here. Simple friendship is not guanxi.
Lol, by the way NEITHER OF THEM MEANS HONESTY FORM THE CHINESE SIDE, SO HAVE NO ILLUSIONS ABOUT IT.

[Sinobear]

[tofuman]

Sinobear,

I'd like you to illustrate how guanxi has worked for you. Give us an example of its' power.

[Talkdoc]

Tofuman � Guanxi is a topic I have spent some time researching, particularly as I am giving serious thought to retiring here.

I agree that most foreign EFL teachers in China will not have immediate or easy access to the social system of guanxi; not because they are foreigners but because 1) they are perceived (in many cases) as not being able to offer and contribute power, influence or accurate (and valuable) information to inside members (Zi ji ren) and 2) as most foreign teachers are �just passing through,� they hold no real place within the social structure.

My understanding of guanxi is that it originates from the ancient marketplace in which it was absolutely necessary for merchants and vendors to forge cooperative relationships with others in order to compete and survive. Guanxi is far more than friendship, favor and gift-giving; it is a rather elaborate mechanism by which individuals are able to achieve personal, family or business objectives.

Guanxi teaches an individual to identify a competitor (outsider or wan ren) from a collaborator (insider or zi ji ren) and it prescribes rules for dealing with each kind of person. (These rules are based heavily on Confucian philosophy regarding role prescription for ruler-subject, father-son, husband-wife, elder brother-younger brother and friends.) Insiders are highly trusted because they are required to provide accurate information. Family, Chinese colleagues* and classmates are automatically considered to be insiders and are offered some degree of automatic trust. Insider relationships are characterized by niceness, trustworthiness, caring, helpfulness and empathy. But the main function of guanxi relationships, according to Gao and Ting-Toomey (1998), is the sharing of information. In a guanxi relationship, one is obligated to share important information, even secret information, with those who are considered to be insiders.

I wouldn�t argue that there are some older, highly traditional and less educated Chinese who will always consider a laowai to be an outsider and therefore excluded from the social system of guanxi. However, I think you are underestimating the profound psychological and emotional significance and impact China�s entry into the World Trade Organization holds for most Chinese with a level of education greater than senior middle school. You would be hard-pressed to find a Chinese businessman or a college educated person who doesn�t believe that the economic growth and future development of this country isn�t highly dependent on cooperation with foreign countries. And to that degree we, as laowai, absolutely do have access to guanxi; especially (and, possibly, only) if we are viewed as having made a long-term commitment to living in the community and thereby being in a tangible position to contribute something of ongoing value to the social network.

When I was living and working in Shenyang, it didn�t take very long before I was introduced to various directors and heads of psychiatric and general hospitals including the deputy director of mental health for Liaoning province. There is no doubt in my mind that if I had remained in Shenyang, these relationships would have proven to be mutually advantageous.

I have been in my current city for less than five months now and have established rather powerful contacts (I wouldn't refer to them as genuine relationships as of yet) with city heads and various leaders who perceive me as possessing information they can use to their advantage (whether that be, for example, for international academic, professional and business contacts or co-authoring an article in a foreign journal). I will tell you that a major consideration for the prospective insiders, and a question that I have been asked on virtually every occasion, is just how long I planned to remain here.

And, as you asked (Sinobear), I�ll offer you a concrete (albeit trivial) example of how guanxi has worked for me. It is currently �impossible� to obtain a new Class C license plate for a motorbike (which would permit one to legally ride it within the city limits). However, there are certain dealers (catering mostly to foreign customers) with powerful guanxi to city officials who, for a fee of 1500 RMB, will provide you with a new license plate if you purchase the bike from them (a good percentage of that fee is payola). To make a long story short, I was able to obtain a new license plate for 300 RMB (for a bike I was able to purchase wholesale from a distributor, not a dealer) because of an indirect contact I have established with the former chief of police. Remember that guanxi is transferable; if person A knows person B and person B knows person C, then A and C are connected and both are considered to coexist within the same social network.

Doc

*Foreign colleagues would be trusted and included over time, once a long-term commitment to the social network was assumed or established.

Here are a couple of interesting and informative sources on guanxi;

Gao, G. and Ting-Toomey, S. (1998). Communicating Effectively with the Chinese. Sage Press: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Hammond, Scott C. & Glenn, Lowell M. (2004). The Ancient Practice of Chinese Social Networking: Guanxi and Social Network Theory. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, Vol. 6 (pp. 24-31)

[Professor Moriarty]

Out of (passing) interest, why do you insist on employing this sinophilistic euphemism 'guanxi'? In the very same way 'face' is Mandarin for BS, 'guanxi' is Mandarin for, at best (toenail-curlingly cringe worthy) favouritism and/or (unctuous) nepotism, and, at worst, (blatant) bribery and/or (downright) corruption. In the old British colonies they have backhanders and, at the other end of the scale, the Freemasons, and in (I believe, once upon a time) Socialist China they have their analogous 'guanxi'. This is a(nother) prime example of socialism with Chinese (i.e., backward) characteristics.

[tofuman]

Doc,

I appreciate your reply. Assuming that you are correct, you have confirmed my belief that guanxi is not unlike the networks that exist among Hasidic diamond merchants.

It appears that you enjoy considerable more status (face?) than I do. If you are a medical doctor, Psy.D, etc., that would be expected. Your educational achievements put you into a different social class. The Chinese appear to be very status conscience. In my case, the FAO seems to enjoy belittling me, even at times correcting (in his mind) my English. I doubt that this happens to you. You, however, probably have to deal with more sycophants that I do.

I have always enjoyed a good fight, so I can give as good or better than I get. The life of a $25 street hooker is quite different from a $1,000 call girl, yet both are prostitutes. Perhaps it is the same with us.

I'm not convinced that you enjoy guanxi in the best (?) sense of the word. It may just be that your status/prestige earns you favors. If you get what you want, it is merely an academic matter. An Arab who shows up in in the diamond district with a pocketful of flawless stones might have no problems unloading them, but he will never be a member of the tribe.