How Is Guanxi Used?

Abstract

Although guanxi is reported on by many newspapers and media outlets, such reports do not reveal details about the process of guanxi practice. Some research does illuminate how people practise guanxi, but not the specific tactics of la guanxi in an urban setting. The research presented in this book, where long-term, partially covert observations were carried out in an urban setting, captured at least four forms of la guanxi: (1) ritualistic customs; (2) money giving; (3) use of power; (4) guanxi–guanxi. The first form is widely discussed in the existing literature in terms of gift giving, entertaining, “face work” and doing renqing. The second form (money giving) and the third form (use of power) are rarely discussed in detail in the existing literature; the fourth (guanxi–guanxi) has been subject to some discussion by other scholars.