Tripartite guanxi: resolving kin and non-kin discontinuities in Chinese connections

Abstract

A consensus holds that guanxi, understood as dyadic connections consolidated affectively and mobilized to achieve the purposes of members, exists in three forms (family guanxi, friendship guanxi, and acquaintance guanxi) distinguished by the strength of felt obligation between participants. It is also held that through practices of fictive kinship friendship guanxi may merge with family guanxi. This article challenges these propositions and the assumptions underlying them. Obligations of kinship and guanxi obligations are fundamentally dissimilar and the term "family guanxi" is redundant. Pseudo-family ties do not provide access to kin relations and their resources but instead affirm the distinction between family-and friendship-ties. Finally, because guanxi is cultivated by its participants, friendship guanxi and acquaintance guanxi are not distinct forms but rather are different possible stages of guanxi formation. The article goes on to consider the sources of these confusions, namely, common-language terms employed in sociological analysis, certain assumptions concerning Chinese culture, and finally methodological commitments that privilege latent structures of strong ties. The strength of guanxi ties, on the other hand, volitionally cultivated and indifferent to structural determination, fluctuates through agentic practices.

Semi-Acquaintance Society in Rural Community-Based Tourism: Case Study of Moon Village, China

“…However, after the disintegration of people's commune, rural social changes triggered by institutional reform make the familiarity of interpersonal relations in administrative villages lower than that of the formal villager group. As some scholars have mentioned, when both non-kin and non-commercial relations arise in villages, especially when the tourist becomes NR, we should employ explicable terms to describe the new rural pattern [69]. Thus, the concept of the semi-acquaintance society emerged.…”

“…Thus, the concept of the semi-acquaintance society emerged. As a transitional concept between the acquaintance society and stranger-based guanxi [69], the basic characteristics of a semi-acquaintance society can be teased out as the interview progressed. First, compared with the acquaintance society in which everybody is familiar with each other and have a high degree of intimacy, the semi-acquaintance society implies a yet-to-be-constructed interpersonal connection and a break-in stage.…”

“…Secondly, local consensus is disintegrating, but people still follow a basic principle and there are no totally irreconcilable contradictions. Thirdly, the traditional code of conduct which is understood as a normative standard and social mechanism governing social reciprocity [63,67,69,82] and nostalgia still plays a role, but that role is undeniably waning for the interference of interest. This paper finds that the social network system of the tourism community in Moon village can be defined as a semi-acquaintance society, which has its own unique internal generating logic and presentation.…”

“…Acquaintance-based relationships are economically driven and built on mere acquaintance in a sparse network abundant in structural holes [67] that can be recognized as opportunistic ties [68]. In the business world, the periphery guanxi circle of acquaintance-based society is applicable to a stranger/outsider-based guanxi circle [69]. Specifically, it is difficult to break down the relationship barrier and go directly to the kinship level or even the acquaintance level of the relationship circle.…”

“…However, it must be acknowledged that guanxi cultivation, as a kind of active participation, is necessarily multi-directional [69], with new participants joining and some old ones withdrawing. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that with the development of rural tourism, the agrestic behavioral logic of Moon village would obviously be changed for the entry of new participants and presents different characteristics.…”