Useful Things Help To Understand How Chinese Thinking（1）
Guanxi, the secret of being successful in China
The Chinese tendency of dividing people into insiders and outsiders, together with the Marxist habit of controlling social institutions from the top down and preventing lateral contact between them, has always been a major barrier to communications. To get around this, people develop a network of contacts and personal relationships for whom they do favours and from whom they ask favours in return. This is called guanxi (pronounced "go-an-see" with stress on the "an") which means possessing influence, or "pull", that you can use with the contacts you have developed in the right places. Without guanxi it is difficult or even impossible to accomplish much, with it you can open doors and achieve a surprising number of things. You need to work on developing guanxi from the moment you arrive in China.
Guanxi is a powerful asset, something like a valuable bank account of favours owed and owing, and those with bigger networks tend to do better. However, the bank account is not unlimited so after receiving, say, two or three favours in a row, a person definitely must repay when approached for something, even if it might not be to their personal best advantage.
An example of the power of guanxi, is provided by Tang Jinsheng, who is the president of the Zhonghua Company which produces motor vehicles. Asiaweek pointed out that "the cars have an iffy reputation. Doors fly open, wheels go rolling off, and engines catch fire". About ten cars a day are made by hand without modern technology, they are of low quality and "are widely detested". Despite these obvious drawbacks, the firm has not gone bankrupt as one might expect. Mr. Tang happens to be the 45 year old son of a high-ranking officer in the People’s Liberation Army! This gives him immense status and contacts which he is able to use to stay in business. At one stage, he even managed to persuade the official Taxi Management Office in Beijing to encourage taxi operators to buy his product to use as their fleet car.
It can pay to hire someone to work for you purely for the contacts they have. The person may in fact do little work but can add immense value to your company by the sheer amount of their guanxi. Powerful family members can provide guanxi possibilities to weaker ones. The Wall Street investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston Company took on Dennis Zhu, in the days when his father Zhu Rongji was a rising star in the economic area but before he became Premier. The company gained from this at the time but it is understood that Dennis became an even more valuable asset as his father rose to the top.
Getting along with harmony
Harmony is an important part of the Confucian heritage. It is believed that if everyone in society plays his or her proper role, then overall harmony will be preserved. For this reason, self-discipline and moderation are essential components of human behaviour, for without them harmony cannot prevail. For most foreigners, harmony is best preserved by avoiding confrontations, maintaining temper, not raising the voice, and smiling rather than looking angry. Not causing anyone to lose face is also an important part of preserving harmony.
The preference for harmony does not preclude the Chinese from suddenly becoming forthright and even turning downright rude in their dealings with you, but such a switch is almost always tactical and a part of their negotiating strategy. They may be searching for weakness to see if you can be easily dominated, or may already have decided you can be, and are now going for the jugular.
