Talk:Guanxi

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Contents 1 Discussion on previous versions of this article 2 Guanxi compared with Arabic Wasta 3 Romanization and pinyin use 4 Guanxi in business

[edit] Discussion on previous versions of this article

I don't know if this belongs in the main body of the article or not.

Locally, it seems the Chinese people use the term guanxi in two different ways. On the ones side is guanxi that is considered quite good. Parents and their offspring, for example, have guanxi with each other. Friends have guanxi between them. Classmates have guanxi with each other for years after leaving school. It's all a merry web of guanxi.

On the dark side, however, is guanxi that is bad. Here the same word is almost used as an epithet and a synonym for corruption. Someone (literally) gets away with murder because he "has guanxi". Another gets out of unpleasant work because she "has good guanxi".

It's almost as if the same word expresses two very, very different concepts here. Should this be worked into the main body of the article? -- Yan Jiahua 14:08 19 May 2003 (UTC)

This question - weather Guanxi expresses something "good" or "bad" (or both? or n/a?) - was exactly the question that came up in my mind when I read the article. It would be great if a knowledgeable person could elaborate on this in the article.

These types of words are called 'antagonyms' or 'contranyms'. JPF 06:36, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hopefully that's much clearer in the current version. Shannonr 05:11, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

The concept of guanxi can get rather complicated. Guanxi simply means relationship - like any other relationship in the world. I guess people with high enough connections anywhere in the world could get away with murder! There is another concept called guanxi xue - this is the use of the relationship to get things done. This is where it can cross over into the realm of corruption and all things negative. For more information read a book by Yang, M - Gifts, Favors, and banquets (1994). This takes you into the complex world of guanxi!

In English usage, guanxi does not have the meaning as the relationship between parents and their offspring. In the wiki article, you can explain the other meanings of this term when used in Chinese though. --Hello World! 04:00, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

From my point of view there seems to be a very good explanation of Guanxi in the book: "Inside Chinese Business. A Guide for Managers Worldwide" published by Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA 02163, USA, edited by Ming-Jer Chen. According to this book Guanxi does not simply means relationship as in western cultures. It´s a very specific chinese way of social network with lots of specific rules and roles to be recognised. Simply to translate to the western "relationship" could cause major misunderstandings of Guanxi.

[edit] Guanxi compared with Arabic Wasta

It seems to me that Guanxi is similar to "Wasta" (Arabic) in the Middle East. See http://isam.bayazidi.net/archives/2005/06/bel-wasta/. -Westonmr 07:19, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

On that note, it seems to me that the english word "rapport" is a better translation. -Harkannin

Having "good guanxi" would seem, on the surface, to have some of the same meaning as saying you had a good rapport with someone. However, rapport would be a poor translation. You could have excellent guanxi with someone you had poor rapport with, and vice versa. --Shannonr 06:38, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Romanization and pinyin use

Is there some page that lays down a standard on when pinyin with tone marks, pinyin w/o tone marks, and italicized pinyin terms should be used? The pages devoted to Chinese terms seem to be all over the map on this.--Daveswagon 06:20, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Guanxi in business

I just deleted the following paragraph, as it seems NNPOV and is unsourced: "Business Context of Guanxi: This concept has been often practised by modern corporates in Korea, Japan, Thailand and China. In the modern business world, Guanxi integrates all the supply chain partners of a business model, working towards efficient operations and effective offerings. A lot of learnings from Guanxi, subtly put in practice by the South East Asean companies (except India and Gulf countries) has been one of the main reasons why we get the most cheap and sophisticated products from these countries. The JIT and Kaizen models developed by Japanese can never be implemented unless there is a healthy Guanxi practice in the business environment." Motmot 14:40, 1 March 2007 (UTC)