Guanxi is both a currency and a banking system. Survival in China without this banking system is very difficult. Guanxi at one level is about relationship power and Westerners are quickly and erroneously side-tracked into Lord Acton’s dictums about power and corruption. However, guanxi is not about corruption and those who equate guanxi with corruption just reveal their ignorance of the concept and its complexity.
The Chinese term “guanxi” is either simple, or remarkably complex. For many Westerners aspiring to work in China, guanxi is a simple concept broadly defining relationships.
For those Westerners working in China, guanxi is a complex web of relationships.
