The title of this post refers to Guanxi. I first heard of Guanxi from the China Law Blog, which referred to the Silicon Hutong Blog.
After reading the China Law Blog’s post, I did more research and also watched a few videos on the subject.
I learned that Guanxi is an aspect of Chinese culture that does not translate easily.
There are several elements and layers to Guanxi. First, Guanxi is based on a Confucian hierarchy of familial relationships, long-term friendships, classmates, and schoolmates and to those no stranger—Chinese or foreign—will ever have access to. (Silicon Hutong)
Guanxi evolved over the millennia because China didn’t have a stable and effective legal system. In fact, the legal system in China today is relatively new and made its appearance after the 1982 Chinese Constitution was established.
Since 1982, there have been several amendments to the Constitution as China adapts its evolving legal system.
In time, this legal system may replace Guanxi since business law modeled on Western law with Chinese characteristic is developing faster than civil law.
Through the centuries, merchants in China needed a way to avoid disputes and problems in the absence of a well-developed legal system. To survive, a complex system called Guanxi developed with many components such as partnerships, trust, credibility, etc.
Guanxi developed organically in civil society due to the absence of a uniform, government mandated legal system, and maintaining Guanxi is different than how relationships are maintained in other cultures. The embedded videos with this post offers a more detailed explanation.
The China Law Blog’s had more than twenty comments, and it was a lively discussion worth reading if you are interested in discovering more on this topic.
Learn about “face” and discover how it might affect Guanxi.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the unique love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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