By Valerie Sartor

Guanxi – the art of social relationships - is a unique Chinese phenomenon that dates back to ancient times, but still is in full force in modern China.

Foreigners often misunderstand this behavior, interpreting it as bribery, corruption and/or a form of nepotism. For anyone wishing to live and do business in modern China this concept, along with some historical understanding of Chinese modernity, must be grasped as objectively as possible.

When people speak of modernity they are generally referring to a force: technological, economic or political, that once radiated from Western civilization. Today this concept of modernity no longer derives from a select geographical area; no one cultural center of modernity exists. Modern, contemporary, “Western” ideas are now widely scattered forces around the globe. In fact, these ideas are radiating outward from many focal points: from Japan, China, Russia, and Australia – not just Western Europe and the USA. In effect, modernity has become a multicultural concept.

Wherever one works and resides, modernization can be classified in several ways. Modernity can be broadly measured by the influence and resistance to the scientific method, assembly line production methods, and advanced banking systems.

Scholars measure it by studying growing urbanization coupled with good mass public transportation, faster paces of life, and new ways of scientifically viewing truth and knowledge.

People experience it by experiencing disenchantment with religious norms, demographic shifts and growing populations, political shifts that create new nation states. Modernity and globalization both have created an increased scope and influence of mass media, refined technologies for state surveillance and self-actualization, and finally, a popular sense of having entered a “new age”.

Until recently the concept of modernity derived from Western philosophers and the Industrial Revolution. But in today’s global age, concepts of modernity have evolved and impacted across vast geographical areas, touching cultural and political-economic zones that once were too remote to consider. In turn, these regions and cultures have adapted and influenced modernity; these ideas also travel the globe.

China is a prime example of this trend. Chinese state socialist “modernity” under Chairman Mao did not fulfill more than two or three of the requirements for modernity. But the post-Mao era, starting in the late 1970s with Deng Xiao Ping’s reforms and the Open Door Policy, changed everything.

Today, no one would dispute the notion that China has joined the modern era. Not only have the characteristics of modernity expanded, but also China has proved her mettle by sending men into space, developing nuclear capacity, and hosting the latest Olympic Games.

Contemporary socialist state capitalism in China displays many features of modernity that parallel the western world. Entrepreneurs coming to China often overlook this mélange of socialism and capitalism because the superficial westernization and modernity, exemplified by China’s splendidly massive and modern cities, is misleading. Significantly, these changes have incorporated Western thought and technologies. This transition into modernity has often fooled Western businessmen into thinking that they are dealing with a culture similar to their own.

But modern China does not equate culturally with modern European or American constructs. The impact of Chinese tradition and national pride should not be underestimated by outsiders. This is why foreigners must try to grasp cultural patterns, such as the art of guanxi, rather than simply assuming that globalization has brought forth a homogenous form of modernity throughout the world.

Unlike the United States and parts of Western Europe, China has been influenced by forced and involuntary invasions from countries near and far, for hundreds of years. In the recent past, Western and Japanese imperialism compelled China to step toward the modern age during the 19th and 20th centuries. Anti-imperial and civil wars in China transformed the sense of individualism into an overwhelming nationalist identity. This process was fraught with suffering and problems; negative feelings toward the Japanese still remain.

Mao’s alignment with Stalin also infused Soviet ideas into Chinese culture and Chinese communism. Mao’s China became a composite of imperial politics and peasant culture, with added Soviet-Marxist discourse, and vestiges of Western Enlightenment ideas. Clearly, socialist China (pre-Deng Xiao Ping’s leadership) bears scars of nationalism, fascism, revolutionary thought, and Rational Enlightenment.

China today is a mélange of the same elements, but in differing degrees. Contemporary Chinese entrepreneurs are affected by their country’s past; we see this by how international business practices are mixed with nationalist sentiments.

So, although it’s played down, no one should discount the thousands of years of Chinese history. Chinese ancient philosophical tenets, borne through the ages as the country evolved and entered into a position as a global superpower, remain dominant, albeit clothed in modernity. The philosophy of power and human relationships, from imperial eras to the socialist present, influence contemporary socialist statecraft and business dealings.

Notably, China and the former USSR, long before entering today’s modern world, nurtured citizens who considered “socialism” as a social formation not leaning toward individualism and economic profits, but rather toward political and cultural benefits for all. During Chairman Mao’s reign from 1949 to 1976 rational economic policies were suppressed. His leadership promoted a different kind of rationalization: a desire for total social transformation that would lead to a perfect society. Modern China still advocates these ideals.

Today’s Western capitalists cannot effectively critique or interface with Chinese socialist modernity without understanding the Chinese modes of power, and Chinese power channels. In short, people of all ranks in China conduct business very differently than Westerners. Their historical constructs and their societal system are different. Guanxi is one such unique form of conduct that has passed through these shifts.

After Mao took the helm in 1949, the Chinese state evolved into a supreme power. This state controlled the means of production, distribution, socialization, and communication systems. Chinese society was literally smothered by the apparatus of the state. The state became the society.

Like the former USSR, China adopted the form of a mono-organizational society, with countless bureaucracies merging into one, vast but impersonal organizational unit.

How did and do the Chinese people cope with this kind of all encompassing system? Guanxi is an ingenious, ancient solution that still works well today.
Analyzing guanxi gift relationships makes it possible to comprehend some of the complexity of the Chinese social system: between the state and the citizen, between employer and employee, between friends.

To effectively communicate and do business, foreigners must grasp how power flows in terms of Chinese political, social, and moral discourses. Guanxi affects everyone living in China: foreign guests, students, businessmen, and all resident Chinese.

    Channel: Local Wisdom     |