Chinese guanxi in San Marino

Harry Mok
January 21, 2006

Kind of interesting, and OK, there are a lot of Chinese in San Garbriel Valley, a point overdone in mainstream media at times.

I'm also annoyed when ever guanxi is mentioned in a story about Chinese business practices, or in this case fundraising. The story says that "fundraising in the Chinese community relied heavily on guanxi, or the connections of the person asking for money." Duh. Isn't that the foundation for how people do business, no matter what race or ethnicity they are?

I can see how if you're an American company trying to do business in China that having guanxi would be important for outsiders trying to break into a new market. But again, isn't that true for any business anywhere?

I think this concept of guanxi is overused and becoming a stereotype.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Jamie wrote on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 10:27am
"I think this concept of guanxi is overused and becoming a stereotype."I think that the woman who was quoted about guanxi in the LAT article explained it very well. Guanxi is a big part of Chinese culture and to de-emphasize it would almost be ignoring a very key element in Chinese culture, not just in the realms of business.Guanxi isn't just important to American companies doing business in China. It's important to any business, domestic or foreign, trying to be successful in China. Guanxi is important culturally, when observing the social niceties of the culture. It's also intricately related to the cultural concept of "saving face." It's a more complex concept to embrace than just "connections" in the business world. Even as an ABC living in China, I found it difficult to understand the meaning and the reasoning behind it. If you wanted to just put it simply, you could call it "connections" as we do here in the States, but guanxi is much more than that.I think the media does mention it because it's kind of a mysterious and vague. Foreign companies that arrive in China find quickly from their alliances in the country that guanxi is very important. It's puzzling because it goes to more than just finding the right person to open that door for you. It's not a matter of just asking or buying someone off (people who just say it's about money really have no understanding of the concept at all). It's about relationships, but it's also about posturing, respect, and all of it requires a deeper understanding of the culture. So what can businesses and the media do with a concept like that? If a company has the money, the value, the personnel, the contacts to succeed, what's the reason why they haven't? Guanxi.So maybe the problem is that much of it gets lost in translation when reporters are trying to squeeze the concept into a hundred word article. Or, maybe the problem is that the reporter and its subjects don't really know how to explain it. It's very difficult to explain.Maybe you're referring to other uses of the word "guanxi." But I think press articles about the importance of guanxi in China are not misplaced, overused, or stereotypical. And I haven't done proper research, but I'd venture to say that there aren't enough academic articles about it.
Harry Mok wrote on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 3:00pm
You're probably right, and there's more to it than typically reported in the media.I guess my problem is that media reports tend to give the impression there's this "mysterious" way Chinese people conduct themselves. But maybe, as you said, you can't really understand it unless you experience it. Perhaps it is mysterious.
momo wrote on Thu, 01/26/2006 - 2:19pm
funny - my mom clipped this article for me and i just got it in the mail!i'd have to say, perhaps the inbalance is that guanxi, as done in the US, is made invisible. we can point out that guanxi is really important in China, and make it seem like a foreign concept. when it's made foreign, it also makes it seem like we don't do it here. unless it's criminalized, in which case it also usually a class/race issue. basically, if you're not from a privileged race/class, you're gonna be criminalized; if you're the VP of the US, you're not. it's very scandalous, actually, how this all plays out - you know, where we draw the line with impropriety.