China series, Part 7: 关系

[Prometheus]

关系

That's guanxi (gwahn-shee)

It means "relationship" and it's the life-blood of business (and just about everything else) in China.

OK. It's the life-blood of business everywhere, but as the concept is so tightly connected to "face" it deserves some special mention.

We all know the old saying, "It's not what you know but who you know." And getting to know those people requires understanding and skill... and money.

Building guanxi is sort of like growing an award-winning orchid or rose. You have to have the right soil (understanding). You have to know who is who and what they do. There's no sense planting when the soil is bereft of nutrients.

When talking with people, you have to use the "sunshine" of your words to properly cajole and politely defer.

And you have to sprinkle it with drops of money from time to time to ensure growth.

Money doesn't always have to be cash, but a hongbao (red envelope) stuffed with folding money never hurts (when done properly). Relationships can be cultivated by buying dinners or offering gifts of expensive* wines or cartons of cigarettes.

Dinners are an important part of building guanxi. They are NOT for discussing business, although you can discuss "problems" in certain markets. Everyone will understand that you have a proposal to alleviate the "problem" which you will want to discuss directly at the appropriate time... as long as the dinner goes well.

"Going well" is about showing interest in the other guests, deferring to the appropriate people in the room, drinking when bidden to drink, and having appropriately high-priced cigs to offer around the table. Dinner is about making friends even though everyone understands the undercurrent. You may have to go to several dinners and probably host a few before you ever get a chance to discuss your proposal in someone's office.

It's just "networking" on steroids, but as I said, guanxi and face are strongly related. Fuck up at a dinner and you will cause a huge loss of face for the host and the person that put you in touch with the host. Causing a rich businessman or government official to lose face can kill your potentially award-winning orchid before the bulb has had a chance to sprout.

However, tend your guanxi well and you will find yourself meeting all sorts of other influential people. This will be a costly endeavor, but the rewards can be vast both in monetary value as well as influence. Done right, people will be seeking you out and giving you "gifts" in order to gain access to your network.

* "Expensive" is relative to the position of the person you are dealing with. You don't give a $200 bottle of wine to a mid-level manager. You give him a $50 bottle for introducing you to his boss, to whom you give the $200 bottle as a thank you for meeting with you. You get the picture.

The same goes for cigs which are not uniformly priced here. You can buy a carton of cheap cigs (that taste like they were made with the leaving of a drying shed floor) for about $1.50, while other cigs can cost over $1,000 per carton. Spending about $30 on a carton is about the minimum for a guanxi gift.

And don't gift too big too early. Your gifts are expected to rise in value as the relationship continues.

[SRK]

Could you introduce me to some Chinese girls?

[Prometheus]

Jan 15, 2021 4:00:45 GMT SRK said:

Could you introduce me to some Chinese girls?

No

[SRK]

Can you send me some nude pictures of Chinese girls

[Prometheus]

Jan 15, 2021 14:01:42 GMT SRK said:

Can you send me some nude pictures of Chinese girls

Pornography is illegal in China.

But I hear that there's this thing call the... interwebs?

maybe you can look there.

[SRK]

Jan 15, 2021 15:09:51 GMT Prometheus said:

Jan 15, 2021 14:01:42 GMT SRK said:

Can you send me some nude pictures of Chinese girls

Pornography is illegal in China.

But I hear that there's this thing call the... interwebs?

maybe you can look there.

Hmm, not bad.

[SRK]

Did you have sexual intercourse with Chinese girls in china?

[Prometheus]

Jan 16, 2021 11:19:11 GMT SRK said:

Did you have sexual intercourse with Chinese girls in china?

Yes... and in the US also

I've also had sex with women from other countries as well.

[ant-mac]

Dec 22, 2020 2:40:21 GMT Prometheus said:

关系

That's guanxi (gwahn-shee)

It means "relationship" and it's the life-blood of business (and just about everything else) in China.

OK. It's the life-blood of business everywhere, but as the concept is so tightly connected to "face" it deserves some special mention.

We all know the old saying, "It's not what you know but who you know." And getting to know those people requires understanding and skill... and money.

Building guanxi is sort of like growing an award-winning orchid or rose. You have to have the right soil (understanding). You have to know who is who and what they do. There's no sense planting when the soil is bereft of nutrients.

When talking with people, you have to use the "sunshine" of your words to properly cajole and politely defer.

And you have to sprinkle it with drops of money from time to time to ensure growth.

Money doesn't always have to be cash, but a hongbao (red envelope) stuffed with folding money never hurts (when done properly). Relationships can be cultivated by buying dinners or offering gifts of expensive* wines or cartons of cigarettes.

Dinners are an important part of building guanxi. They are NOT for discussing business, although you can discuss "problems" in certain markets. Everyone will understand that you have a proposal to alleviate the "problem" which you will want to discuss directly at the appropriate time... as long as the dinner goes well.

"Going well" is about showing interest in the other guests, deferring to the appropriate people in the room, drinking when bidden to drink, and having appropriately high-priced cigs to offer around the table. Dinner is about making friends even though everyone understands the undercurrent. You may have to go to several dinners and probably host a few before you ever get a chance to discuss your proposal in someone's office.

It's just "networking" on steroids, but as I said, guanxi and face are strongly related. Fuck up at a dinner and you will cause a huge loss of face for the host and the person that put you in touch with the host. Causing a rich businessman or government official to lose face can kill your potentially award-winning orchid before the bulb has had a chance to sprout.

However, tend your guanxi well and you will find yourself meeting all sorts of other influential people. This will be a costly endeavor, but the rewards can be vast both in monetary value as well as influence. Done right, people will be seeking you out and giving you "gifts" in order to gain access to your network.

* "Expensive" is relative to the position of the person you are dealing with. You don't give a $200 bottle of wine to a mid-level manager. You give him a $50 bottle for introducing you to his boss, to whom you give the $200 bottle as a thank you for meeting with you. You get the picture.

The same goes for cigs which are not uniformly priced here. You can buy a carton of cheap cigs (that taste like they were made with the leaving of a drying shed floor) for about $1.50, while other cigs can cost over $1,000 per carton. Spending about $30 on a carton is about the minimum for a guanxi gift.

And don't gift too big too early. Your gifts are expected to rise in value as the relationship continues.

Speaking of the life-blood of business...

Lai Xiaomin, 8 July 1962 – 29 January 2021, was a Chinese business executive and senior economist who served as party chief and chairman of the board of China Huarong Asset Management from September 2012 to April 2018. He was sacked for graft on April 17, 2018.


On 5 January 2021, Lai was sentenced to death without reprieve for bribery, embezzlement and bigamy. His private assets were seized as well. The sentence was carried out on 29 January 2021.

Damn... they don't fuck about over there, do they?

[Prometheus]

Jan 30, 2021 9:48:20 GMT ant-mac said:

Dec 22, 2020 2:40:21 GMT Prometheus said:

关系

That's guanxi (gwahn-shee)

It means "relationship" and it's the life-blood of business (and just about everything else) in China.

OK. It's the life-blood of business everywhere, but as the concept is so tightly connected to "face" it deserves some special mention.

We all know the old saying, "It's not what you know but who you know." And getting to know those people requires understanding and skill... and money.

Building guanxi is sort of like growing an award-winning orchid or rose. You have to have the right soil (understanding). You have to know who is who and what they do. There's no sense planting when the soil is bereft of nutrients.

When talking with people, you have to use the "sunshine" of your words to properly cajole and politely defer.

And you have to sprinkle it with drops of money from time to time to ensure growth.

Money doesn't always have to be cash, but a hongbao (red envelope) stuffed with folding money never hurts (when done properly). Relationships can be cultivated by buying dinners or offering gifts of expensive* wines or cartons of cigarettes.

Dinners are an important part of building guanxi. They are NOT for discussing business, although you can discuss "problems" in certain markets. Everyone will understand that you have a proposal to alleviate the "problem" which you will want to discuss directly at the appropriate time... as long as the dinner goes well.

"Going well" is about showing interest in the other guests, deferring to the appropriate people in the room, drinking when bidden to drink, and having appropriately high-priced cigs to offer around the table. Dinner is about making friends even though everyone understands the undercurrent. You may have to go to several dinners and probably host a few before you ever get a chance to discuss your proposal in someone's office.

It's just "networking" on steroids, but as I said, guanxi and face are strongly related. Fuck up at a dinner and you will cause a huge loss of face for the host and the person that put you in touch with the host. Causing a rich businessman or government official to lose face can kill your potentially award-winning orchid before the bulb has had a chance to sprout.

However, tend your guanxi well and you will find yourself meeting all sorts of other influential people. This will be a costly endeavor, but the rewards can be vast both in monetary value as well as influence. Done right, people will be seeking you out and giving you "gifts" in order to gain access to your network.

* "Expensive" is relative to the position of the person you are dealing with. You don't give a $200 bottle of wine to a mid-level manager. You give him a $50 bottle for introducing you to his boss, to whom you give the $200 bottle as a thank you for meeting with you. You get the picture.

The same goes for cigs which are not uniformly priced here. You can buy a carton of cheap cigs (that taste like they were made with the leaving of a drying shed floor) for about $1.50, while other cigs can cost over $1,000 per carton. Spending about $30 on a carton is about the minimum for a guanxi gift.

And don't gift too big too early. Your gifts are expected to rise in value as the relationship continues.

Speaking of the life-blood of business...

Lai Xiaomin, 8 July 1962 – 29 January 2021, was a Chinese business executive and senior economist who served as party chief and chairman of the board of China Huarong Asset Management from September 2012 to April 2018. He was sacked for graft on April 17, 2018.


On 5 January 2021, Lai was sentenced to death without reprieve for bribery, embezzlement and bigamy. His private assets were seized as well. The sentence was carried out on 29 January 2021.

Damn... they don't fuck about over there, do they?

No, they do not... and they are never strapped for cash. Why impose higher taxes when you have a fresh crop of millionaires and billionaires to pluck at will?

And you know that everyone he ever dealt with is under investigation and several have probably already met the same fate, but didn't make it to the news.

Guanxi into the cash. Guanxi into the death sentence.

Why do you think Jack Ma is backing off certain business deals all of a sudden? He's getting a bit too big for his britches and wants to stay on this side of the daisies.

[ant-mac]

I saw this on YouTube and thought you might appreciate it...

[Prometheus]

Mar 13, 2021 9:55:26 GMT ant-mac said:

I saw this on YouTube and thought you might appreciate it...

I didn't see this post until now, but I saw the same video in my youtube feed and posted it in "Politics."

Cheers!