guanxi

See also: guānxi, guānxì, and guànxǐ

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese 關係／关系 (guānxì, “relation, connection”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwanʃi/, /ˈɡwanʃi/

Noun

guanxi (uncountable)

1. (Chinese society) Connections; relationships; one's social or business network.

   Synonym: (from Russian) blat

   To open a new business in China you need guanxi.

   • 1996, James O'Reilly, Sean O'Reilly, Larry Habegger (editors), Travellers' Tales - Hong Kong [1]

     Who would dare to drive around in a [right-hand drive] car that was so obviously stolen and smuggled into the country? The police, of course! And Communisty Party officials. And those with guanxi with the police.

   • 1998, Stuart Cohen, Invisible World:

     By chance he'd happened to be in Hong Kong when Clayton had died, and his guanxi had smoothed out the paperwork that could have delayed things for weeks.

   • 2000, Yadong Luo, Strategy, Structure, and Performance of MNCs in China‎^[2]:

     It should be noted that the existence of a basis for guanxi does not imply that such an alliance will develop.

   • 2005, China-Britain Business Council

     Many foreigners claim to have guanxi with their Chinese counterparts; few actually do.

Translations

connections; relationships; one's social or business network (China)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 關係／关系 (zh), 关系 (zh) (guānxi)

• Finnish: suhteet (fi) pl, verkosto (fi); guanxi
• Japanese: コネ (kone), コネクション (ja) (konekushon), 関係 (ja) (かんけい, kankei)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 커넥션 (keoneksyeon), 관계 (ko) (gwan'gye)
• Russian: блат (ru) m (blat), свя́зи (ru) f or pl (svjázi), гуа́ньси m or f or n (guánʹsi) (Chinese context)
• Spanish: cuña (es) f

See also

• network
• relationship

Further reading

• guanxi on Wikipedia.Wikipedia