I thought the following exchanges from Black Phoenix and United Chinese Diaspora in a recent thread were very insightful and thought would put that as a post.
Is guanxi really an exotic leftover from an old decadent tradition – as many people, including I, blindingly believed? Or is it ever-present among us … in “modernity”?
From Black Phoenix:
I am reminded of a common story among many Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants.
1 of my friends has a PhD, worked for high tech companies for more than decades, but still not able to advance, keep getting downsized.
He said to me once, he couldn’t understand why. He worked very hard, but others get promoted.
I asked him, why he didn’t go to China to work.
He said, he remembered all the corruption of “guanxi” in Chinese companies. He said he wouldn’t like it there. That was part of the reason why he left.
I said, why does he think that he could do better in US?
He said, in the US, people can succeed without all the corrupt “Guanxi”.
I said, that’s his mistake in assumption. In US, there is “guanxi”, which is called “networking”.
He said, “networking” is not “guanxi”.
I said, who made you believe that?
**
that’s the problem. Many Chinese believed that they escaped China’s corruption of “guanxi”, when in reality, they were thrown into another system of relationships and networking that they couldn’t master.
They believed that if they just worked hard, they would be recognized and be rewarded.
But it is the same in US, just different networks.
**
I also seen too many Expats in China complain that they couldn’t stand “guanxi”.
Yet, many of them also left the West, because they couldn’t stand the “networking” in the West.
It’s the same game, that some people simply couldn’t succeed in.
There is no exceptions, Same game, different nations.
**
I believe, too many of us have been misled / brainwashed into believing in the system in the West.
That we believe that it’s a fair(er) game than in China.
No. I have seen enough to realize that it’s the same corrupt game. I live in DC. It’s never a fair game.
Let’s not live under the delusion any more.
Face reality: We have to kissass, we have to lick boots. If we don’t do in China, we have to do in the West. That’s how you climb up. Doesn’t matter where.
Self-proclaimed honor means very little. Even if you save your honor, you are still someone’s slave.
From United Chinese Diaspora:
Your comparison between quanxi and networking is perceptive and true.
Reminds me of a story where a white man went to visit his wife at the cemetery and he saw a Chinese man putting some food in front of the Chinese man’s wife’s tombstone and the white man asked the Chinese man if he thought his wife would come up and eat the food in which the Chinese man replied by asking if the white man would think that his wife would come up and smell the flowers that he brought her.
White people will always think their shit smell better than everybody else’s.
Black Pheonix says
I realize that it was mostly my personal anecdote that I was giving.
So, while I have no overall data currently, I wish to offer yet another personal anecdote:
My parents were both engineers back in China, both worked in state owned companies, and both worked as engineering professors in Chinese universities.
My mother is the smartest woman I know. She has a Ph.D. in engineering.
Yet, my mother is also stuck in a dead end job, as a lowly engineer for a small company in US. She gets paid very little, part time, doing menial engineering design work, mostly for the barely adequate medical insurance from the company.
I remember, when I was a child, how my mother complained to me about how her colleagues in the Chinese university would have pointless meetings, where they smoke (Mad Men style) in small conference rooms, talking about nothing useful.
And I remember, how my mother finally became so fed up with all the BS “guanxi” and decided to apply to a US university, so that she could leave all that stuff in China.
She got what she wanted, and came to US.
But was it better? I do not think so.
My realization of it came when I also encountered the “Old Boys’ Network” in US high tech companies.
But compared to my mother, I realized that there was no “better place” to go, that it was the same every where in the world.
And that it was pointless to complain about “guanxi” or “network”. (You might find a good place elsewhere, where you might fit better into the network, but often, if you are not good in 1 network, you won’t do that well in another guanxi).
*Looking at some of the Expats, (Duck, Geek, etc.), I honest feel sorry for some of them. For some of them are under the same delusion as my mother (and many other Chinese). That somehow, guanxi is so much worse in China, while they had so little exposure to the “networks” in the West.
Is it any wonder that while some Expats complained threatening to leave China, that some are still lingering in China? (Mark Kitto, for example, is still rumored to be lingering in China). Some would say the reason is for other things (Chinese culture, memory of life in China, etc.). But how many is still unwilling to admit to the deep fear of the “network” in the West waiting for them??
The stigma facing the Expats is not so much in China, as it is back home, where they are mocked. (Really, you spend years in China “teaching English”?? Or making money from Chinese “corruption”??)
The nature of “guanxi” and Chinese “corruption” are not as real as the reality of the stigma used to discriminate against anyone with connection to China. Even Expats are not immune to it.
Yet, that’s the precise proof of the insidiousness of the “network” in the West, designed to discriminate against the “others”.
Black Pheonix says
As an interesting side note on “networking” in the West, it is a recognized problem of Western corruption, and yet, so very few people talk about it.
Finland for example, has the interesting intersection of being 1 of the most transparent countries in the West, (2nd), and yet one of the countries most corrupted by the “Old Boys’ Network” problem.
http://blog.transparency.org/2012/03/06/old-boys-networks-keep-tarnishing-finlands-corruption-clean-reputation/comment-page-1/
So, what’s happening here?
If the system is very “transparent”, in theory, corruption would not likely happen. And yet, such as in Finland, corruption is happening, getting worse.
Because the shady deals are happening in broad daylight, legally. The system literally made corruption LEGAL in some instances.
Analogously, it’s legal for many forms of corruption in US.
The laws are written by the powerful to make corruption legal. In itself that’s pretty corrupt, to a level that even the Chinese elites wouldn’t dare to do.
colin says
Mostly agree with everything, but want to add that comparing “guanxi” with “networking” is less than perfect. The word Guangxi can be used to mean different things in different contexts, which I won’t go into as tomes can be written, and “networking” is just the imperfect translation of one usage.
A better translation in the context here is, I think, “cultivated relationships”. There’s nothing right or wrong about this in itself, it’s just human nature. Every one tries, or should try, to make as many friends and relationships as they can. Humans are a social animal and we depend on others and vice versa. It makes perfect sense that those with more “guanxi” in this context, should generally be more successful. It’s when “guanxi” is used in conflicts of interest that is bad. This happens just as well in the West as China. (E.g. Chelsea Clinton being paid 600k by NBC: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/chelsea-clinton-nbc-600-k-salary-107827.html , the revolving door of government officials and corporate executives, etc).
So back to the original anecdotes about Chinese hoping to leave guanxi behind by leaving China, if think you can lead a life of success without building relationships, you’ve been wrong about human nature and society itself. You’ve focused on one meaning of guanxi and ignored the others to your own detriment.
Granted, the bad forms of guanxi might have been more prevalent in the past, under strict communist rules and limited opportunities, but that is a world from what China is today and it’s becoming more transparent every day.
Charles Liu says
Does “quid pro quo” type of networking not exist in corporate America? Of course it does. From sport event tickets, morale event, wine and dine, junket, even after party grey stuff. The Chinese perhaps just have a more pure form of it, that’s all.
Let me give you few examples (if you know where I live, it’s not hard to figure out which Fortune 500 companies these are) 1) went to dinner with visiting potential clients, the wine bill alone was $500; 2) holding conventions around the world and reward “influencers” with resort stays, hob-nob op; 3) vendor conference in Vegas, where large sum of chips exchange hands at unofficial after party as “entertainment”, but people just cash the chips, effectively launder the money.
Black Pheonix says
@colin
I agree that the comparison was imperfect. but in truth, the real comparison was between the corruption of the 2 systems of “networking”.
To add, I have often heard Westerners mock Chinese immigrants as “anti-social”.
In reality, I think that has more to do with those Chinese who “bury their heads in work”, who thought perhaps they could advance without having to resort to “networking”.
In reality, I think it was a mistake for many Chinese to live by the “model immigrant” stereotype, that they are supposed to be quiet, silently hard working, little complaints, etc.
So much so, that Chinese immigrants are taken for granted in the West.
And when the ones who display any ambition or assertiveness are then denigrated as somehow “loud”, rude, etc., when in reality, they are no more “loud” or rude than most Westerners.
***
thus, we must recognize that we must throw off the shackles of the stereotypes against us, and that we must “network” and do “guanxi”, in whatever form there exists.
It is the essence of Political power, nowhere where.
Black Pheonix says
China mocks US political corruption using “House of Cards” as example.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/06/17/how-corrupt-is-the-u-s-just-watch-house-of-cards-china-party-arm-says/
But WSJ (and other US media) mock China for using a TV show as example of reality.
Well, I think even most Westerners would acknowledge the kind of corruption in HoC.
Then, did WSJ miss the point?
YES, we all know it’s a TV show. It’s not like Chinese people believe there is actually a person named “Francis Underwood” who is the VP of US.
China using the plot of that show as “example” of real corruption is apparently 1 analogy too much for WSJ. (While ridiculous Hollywood creations such as “7 years in Tibet” and “Red Corner” would be completely believable at the same time).
United Chinese Diaspora says
@Black Pheonix
“To add, I have often heard Westerners mock Chinese immigrants as “anti-social”.
In reality, I think that has more to do with those Chinese who “bury their heads in work”, who thought perhaps they could advance without having to resort to “networking”.
In reality, I think it was a mistake for many Chinese to live by the “model immigrant” stereotype, that they are supposed to be quiet, silently hard working, little complaints, etc.
So much so, that Chinese immigrants are taken for granted in the West.
And when the ones who display any ambition or assertiveness are then denigrated as somehow “loud”, rude, etc., when in reality, they are no more “loud” or rude than most Westerners.”
It’s kind of eerie how you and N.M.Cheung managed to hit every nail in the head in terms of descriptions about me. What you have described above is so true and it is really me. Except that I am not an immigrant, I am a CBC.
We have always been taught that in order to get ahead you must work hard and do a good job. And that was very much the case in the 70’s and 80’s, but today it seems like a lot of it counts on your being white, if you are white and hard working, you get all the recognition and accolade, if you are white and not hard working, you still get recognized and even promoted, if you are Chinese, you can work hard but you will not get the recognition, matter of fact, the white person who does not work hard will get your thunder. Essentially I am made to feel that I am there to serve them, very much the house nigger mentality. No matter how smart and good the house nigger is, he is still the house nigger.
I don’t know about discrimination in the States or China, but here in BC, discrimination against the Chinese remains fervent.
While quanxi or networking has a positive connotation to me in that one can help the other through connections. But at work, I have one white co-worker whom I get along with quite well, and I have helped him numerous times, saving him from difficulties, the people who are racists told him some lies about me, and all of sudden he treated me like an enemy. I was totally in disbelief in that how can a person turn against me so fast given that the person knows very well what I am like.
This is not an isolated case. I get the impression that when you are Chinese you get less credibility eventhough historically I have always been truthful and upfront. I am totally frustrated by the office politics but I am more concerned about world politics in that people are brainwashed by the media and governments that China and by extension the Chinese are bad and not credible.
Ever notice that the Chinese are never given the key roles but always an assistant of some sort.
At work, I have more experience and knowledge than my boss, but I would not get promoted.
I live in an area where there are not a lot of Chinese people, I wish that there are more Chinese businesses here so that maybe I can benefit from some Chinese quanxi and get a better job. So that the Chinese business can benefit from my talent.
One thing is certain, if I managed to work for a Chinese company with Chinese people as the majority, I will not treat the white workers like they have treated me.
Black Pheonix says
I sympathize with your situation, which as I have said, I have seen other Chinese (Immigrants, CBC, ABC’s) experience.
But I would caution you against your moral principle, which I think you still hold onto as a vestige of your upbringing.
“One thing is certain, if I managed to work for a Chinese company with Chinese people as the majority, I will not treat the white workers like they have treated me.”
If you are to play the “network” game, you must learn to discriminate others as they would certainly do to you.
I learned a while back, you have to learn to value yourself before others will value you.
I have to sometimes stop myself from “helping” others, because I know they might not value my “help”.
It is business, it is “give and take”.
If they won’t likely “give” back, why would you “give” any help?
You can’t wait for the “network” to come to you. You have to learn to play the game. Otherwise, you will always be at a disadvantage.
Black Pheonix says
@United Chinese Diaspora
1 important point about “discrimination”: I’m not suggesting that you discriminate against people based upon their race or ethnicity, but rather you should discriminate against people who might discriminate against you.
Put it simply, if you know someone is a racist (or have such tendencies), would you “help” such a person in their job?
I wouldn’t.
Most Chinese seem to want to assume that others are not racists against them.
But That is clearly a mistaken assumption.
Chinese are openly discriminated against in US, Canada. For example, Chinese students by proportion achieve higher test scores, but are not proportionally allowed into Ivy League schools.
So then, I ask, if Chinese students come out of US universities (with discrimination already done against them), should such Chinese students give help to Ivy League graduates?
Hell no. To do so would only give the Ivy League schools more reason to discriminate against future Chinese students.
In workplaces, it should be similar rules. You should discriminate against workplaces that have discriminated against others.
I worked in law firms, and I avoid working for law firms that have very few Asians.
ersim says
Having read the comments about the differences between Western “networking” and China’s “guanxi”, a question popped into my head, the Western “value system” of “networking” is more a “polite” form of bribery and extorsion.
Black Pheonix says
@ersim
I would prefer to consider it in terms of “game theory”, which we human beings all play in every day social interactions.
Of course, it could devolve into bribery and extortion, counterproductive to the overall game.
At that point, the terms do become euphemism for simply corruption.
N.M.Cheung says
I would like to thank Allen for changing his mind to keep the blog open. I was going to comment on his announcement but the comment section was closed, so I have to comment on this one. I think some of us also like to initiate topics rather than depending Allen to do all the blogging. I suggest Allen gives out information on how do we post articles like where or who do we send it to. I myself want to join in if possible. It will give a more diverse topics not only in politics but cultural ones as well.
United Chinese Diaspora says
@Black Pheonix
I was brought up with the ethos of avoiding all conflicts and allow time to heal differences. At work, people interpreted my reticence as a weakness which somehow turned into reality. The consequence was that I suffered tremendous personal psychological turmoil. Do I hate white people? No. Do I think there is travesty of justice and abuse of human rights? Yes.
And to answer your question of why don’t I “discriminate” back those abusers. The truth of the matter is that I am really inexperienced at revenge. I don’t even know how to go about it. In the past, I have always allowed time to heal. In the past decade or so, white people appeared to be much more vicious. It appeared that for them kicking someone down wasn’t enough, they must enjoyed the senseless slaughter as well.
I have attributed this violent lobotomy instilled in the white people today by the Western media and governments specifically against China and the Chinese.
Black Pheonix says
@United Chinese Diaspora
I’m not suggestion “revenge”. You must understand that “discrimination” can be neutral. “Discrimination” just means a choice. If you are picking a “friend”, and deciding who is a “friend” and who is not, then that’s your personal choice. It’s not “revenge” in any sense of the word.
And I completely understand your need to avoid conflicts. But not all assertion of oneself is conflict.
I would actually suggest that you “avoid conflicts” more proactively. Learn to spot patterns of your work place, and recognize when people are not going to value your work.
(1) don’t take Shit work on, especially when you can see other people are avoiding it. There is no point in making yourself into the grunt, when no one will appreciate it. (If your boss assign them to you disproportionally, do some of it, and then ask for a vacation, say you need a break. I guarantee when you come back, your boss will appreciate you more. And he/she doesn’t appreciate you still, then you need to think about getting a better job.)
(2) don’t act as a “teacher” to anyone at work. You will just end up training your own future boss. Learn that your work knowledge and experience are valuable, it took you years to learn those, why should you give them away for free? Trust me, I was an engineering manager for 4 years. When it comes to time for performance review, No one ever gets credit for TRAINING someone else (unless training was their job), but the guy who GOT the training will get credit for being a “fast learner”.
1 thing about this is very cultural to Chinese. We Chinese value and respect teachers. In ancient and modern China, the relationship (guanxi) between a teacher and a student is considered almost sacred. In China, if a young worker gets trained by an older worker in a company, the young worker would call the older worker “Laoshi”/teacher or “shifu”/master. In Ancient China, it is considered almost a crime for a student to try to sabotage his/her teacher. (Someone who betrays his/her teacher is generally shunned from his/her profession, because no one would hire such a person).
This was because traditionally, trade secrets are passed down from teachers to students in professions. If students betray their teachers, the teachers would not teach anyone (other than their own children).
In modern West, this culture is virtually non-existent.
So, you must be aware of that. You should not be a teacher to anyone in the work place, because the Western culture does not value such a role. (If you are forced to train someone, then just do the bare minimum training. If you want to, you can just ask your boss if he/she has any training materials, and stick to that as the bare minimum.) In my old engineering job, I got very little training from other people. Even when I became a manager, I got very little training for my job. I had to learn every thing on my own. I imagine your experience was similar. So, why should you go out of your way to training someone else?? I say, they can go learn on their own, like you did.
Look, looking back, you had to risk your career while learning on the job, if you made a mistake, other people would hold it against you. So, why make it easy for others to help them avoid mistakes?
(3) sometimes, you have to let your work place become chaotic.
If you are not the boss (of a team, etc), then it’s not your job to deal with problems. If your boss doesn’t appreciate you, then the best way to deal with that sometimes is to let the chaos happen. (don’t CAUSE chaos, just let it happen passively from other people, make sure you are not the direct source of the chaos).
Soon enough, if your boss is fed up with the chaos, he might realize that your help would be “valuable”. That’s when you can bargain.
Or, your boss might quit. In which case, you might get his job, or you might bargain with his replacement.
(4) always have a foot out of the door.
Be ready to quit, have a better job.
Unless you are willing to leave a bad job environment, you are always stuck.
You can swap to a different team in the same company, if you need to, just to go work for someone who like you better.
Take it from me, I worked for the same company (in the same department) for 12 years. I was stuck, I just didn’t realize it until very late.
Now, I switch job almost every 1-2 years. Some people think, oh that’s too much switching.
Yes, and no. I think I’m bargaining myself.
Every time I get a new job offer, I know that I’m valued.
I don’t have to complain to my old bosses, they can get a hint that I’m worth more than they thought.
This part is also harder: You may feel bad in quitting. You may feel that you owe some “loyalty” to your old boss.
Get over it, because think to yourself, would your boss even blink if he decided to fire you in a downsizing? No. It’s a Capitalist society, and you are just a cattle /employee. I guarantee it’s more inconvenient for you to be fired than leaving for a better job.
Black Pheonix says
On a separate anecdote:
I went to a happy hour recently for a bunch of engineers and ex-engineers in DC.
1 person was bragging about how great his job was, at a US defense contractor company.
He went on 15 minutes talking about how everyone slacks off, take long lunches, don’t do much work, watch cat videos online, and how the office is filled with toys and TV (on which they were watching the World Cup).
Not 1 line about what was actually great in the “work”.
Corruption in US. Eat your heart out.
Allen says
@N.M.Cheung
I have changed your role and starting now, you can publish yourself!
If others are interested and have been a long-time commenter and we have gotten to know you, email me, and I will change your role too to be an “author” so you can starting writing posts as well.
For new comers, please comment first, and once we get to know you, we will gladly offer you that privilege if you want to contribute, too.
Allen says
@United Chinese Diaspora
Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but I have heard many stories of Chinese companies treating white workers much better than Asian workers … especially companies in China.
Even among Chinese, some have a reverse prejudice against their own kind. It’s too bad, but I am not necessarily sure that a Chinese working for a Chinese company will necessarily be better off than a Chinese working for a Western company.
Sure, a Chinese company will probably not impose a glass ceiling on a Chinese per se, but on other levels, they may discriminate against Chinese just as much as Western companies…
United Chinese Diaspora says
@Black Pheonix
Thank you very much for your valuable advice. Number two is especially poignant.
I am amazed at your ability to have such profound analysis with so little details from me.
Your observations are very similar to my own situation.
I am appreciative of your kind understanding, thank you.
United Chinese Diaspora says
@Allen
I appreciate your comment and I am throwing this out for intellectual discussion:
I heard the same thing about people in China giving preferential treatments to foreigners.
I can relate to that because when I invite my white friends to my home, my mother always makes extra good food to feed my friends and allow us to make all sorts of noise dancing in the back yard. Maybe this is a Chinese cultural thing of always treating your guests well even when they are only 12 years old.
In terms of the work place, I am a Canadian and I don’t expect special treatments but I do expect fair and non-discriminatory treatment. What I am trying to make people aware of is that there is a new wave of hate against Chinese people. And I have noticed that not only in the work place but also in the stores, on the streets, in social gatherings.
If you read the comments on any Western media you will find hatred against the Chinese. Somehow this hatred is showing up at the work place, in the stores, on the streets.
I have never worked for a Chinese company, not even one run by Canadian Chinese. I have always worked for white people. And I have noticed the change in recent years.
So there was this article in the news about Chinese people eating dead human babies as a form of aphrodisiac, and some workers asked me if I eat dead babies. I told them that I haven’t read the article and that I have never heard of Chinese people eating dead babies.
There has always been misconceptions about Chinese people but there is this undercurrent of nefarious hatred against the Chinese that I have never seen before.
Office politics will happen in Chinese offices and white offices, but I think that intentionally targeting someone because he is Chinese is beyond normal office politics.
colin says
@United Chinese Diaspora
I’ve avoided talking about racism against Chinese in my comments so far, but alas, here we are.
Yes, Chinese have been, and will continue to be abused in the white dominated world. It’s just a fact of life for Chinese living abroad. It’s a white dominated world, and it is human nature of people to be xenophobic and intolerant of “others”, and use guanxi for fellow whites. Even despite what the liberal establishment preaches, what they say is just for show. (I’ve come to realize the liberals are just as bad as the conservatives). Add to this the agenda of western institutions defaming China and the chinese as policy, and you have to quickly realize the odds are stacked against you. You have things you can do to reduce, but not eliminate the bias against you:
Remove yourself from hostile environments and to more progressive areas. (move to coastal/hi tech areas).
Confront bias directly and lead change – though this has risk and takes a lot of courage.
Take alternate paths to success (ie. no way you’re gonna climb up to be CEO of a white company – instead start your own business).
Alas, none of these are solutions to the problem itself, which is deeply ingrained racism and tribalism. Whites/western world have no concept of a strong and successful asian nation pulling up themselves and becoming leaders. They cannot imagine a world where Chinese would be leaders and innovators.
This is why China’s success is so important. To destroy these myths and biases. It’s already happening. Notice how hollywood is much less a defamer of China and the chinese? Well, they need to cater to the Chinese market. And every breakthrough and success China has, it creates a little crack in the anti-china bigotry, and by extension, bigotry against chinese immigrants. Only China can do this. The overseas Chinese communities are simply too small in number and influence to affect major change.
United Chinese Diaspora says
@colin
What you said is so true, I myself have also tried to avoid the race card, but at work the reality is hitting me so hard that talking about it publicly is my only way to vent my frustration.
I do realize that my internal conflict of feelings of depression/anger/resignation/indignation have made me in my comments somehow appear to be anti white and anti West.
I am quite sure that the NSA and other spy agencies are monitoring this blog, but then I say to my self, hell with it, let’s test out the democracy, human rights and freedom expression that are so much touted by the Western media and governments.
I kind of had a Norma Rae moment where Sally field held up the paper sign that said “UNION” that inspired the rest of the people to take notice and against injustice. Unfortunately I am not much of an organizer so I am throwing this out to the wind and hope for a critical mass of kindred hearts.
You are so right about the overseas Chinese communities being too small to carry any influence, but then that is what they thought about the Jews during the 50s.
Thus my idea of a United Chinese Diaspora.
United Chinese Diaspora says
Hey Guys, I quit my job today. And It feels great.
Thank you for all those kind and heartfelt suggestions.
I know that the buck stops with me and I am ultimately responsible for my own actions.
But it’s your frank and friendly discussions that made all the difference.
Thanks again.
Allen says
@United Chinese Diaspora
Well … for better or worse. Don’t look back. Strike out to do what you believe in … accept the actions you book … and look forward to reaping the rewards when your actions bear fruit!
Black Pheonix says
@United Chinese Diaspora
Some day, you may look back and wonder why you decided to change. You must remember to remind yourself, of the miseries you suffered being unchanged before.