Another Little Story about Guanxi

In an earlier post, I mentioned the Chinese concept of "guanxi" or "relationship." This little story illustrates the idea perfectly. Our Beijing guide Scott graduated from Peking [Beijing] University, the Harvard of China. Now he has a son who is in the second grade, and Scott hopes his son will also attend the same University. So, how does Scott assure that this will happen?

There is a primary school, a middle school, and a high school affiliated with the University. Children who attend these schools have a significantly better chance of being accepted at the University, so the first step is to get the boy into the University's primary school. As luck would have it (and "luck" is a major player in Chinese thinking), Scott's parents know the female principal of the primary school.

Scott pays her a visit, knowing that the appropriate bribe is 20,000 yuan, but after considerable coy negotiations, Scott ascertains that he cannot pay her directly because everyone knows his parents and the principal are friends. It wouldn't look good (their expression is "keeping clean"). So Scott hires a middleman who pays the bribe in cash with no receipt, and assurances all around that everyone will keep their mouths shut.

According to Scott, everyone pays bribes and often takes them. It's a way of doing business and accomplishing certain goals. The system reminds me of my friend Mary Gillilan's description of how the city of Chicago operated years ago. Things weren't all on the up-and-up, but things got done, and in the main, Chicago was well run.

One of China's most serious problems is corruption which takes many forms (like bribery and adulterated or shoddy products like toothpaste, baby food, or cough syrup, primarily cheap products sold to the very poorest people). The Chinese government launched a nationwide anti-corruption hotline last week. More than 11,000 calls have already been received about job-related crimes and alleged corruption among government officials. This hotline marks a new stance by the State government, welcoming the public to ferret out government corruption like bribery, dereliction of duties, unlawful searches, illegal detention, and unlawful coercion of confessions. There was such a big response to the hotline the first day, their website froze.