Harmony in Chinese Culture 关系与面子
Fri 11 Jul 2008Posted by Mr.WHAT under Chinese Characters , Chinese Culture
和 为 贵。
hé wéi guì. Harmony is prized.
Here is the general introduction to concepts at the core of Chinese society and relationships including guanxi, renqing, mianzi and keqi. Can you tell about the common expressions in mandarin Chinese fluently and immense yourself into Chinese culture?
“Do as Chinese do when in China.” If you don’t know how, please contact ChineseHour Course Advisor (www.chinesehour.com/ ) right now, they are ready online to help you with Chinese learning all the time.
-Personal network 关系(guānxì)
Throughout much of China’s history, guanxi has been and remains a deep seated concept that lies at the core of Chinese society and the relationship between the people within it. Simply put, guanxi can be seen as who you know and what they perceive to be their obligation to you.
In China, an established network of quality contacts can help accomplish almost anything, and thus having good guanxi is a very powerful asset.
-Human sentiment 人情 (rénqíng )
Closely intertwined with “guanxi” is “renqing” an important vehicle in Chinese social exchanges. “renqing” which literally translates as human sentiment or human emotion is defines by one western scholar as “covers not only sentiment but also its social expressions such as the offering of congratulations, or condolences or the making of gifts on appropriate occasions. The rule of ”renqing” in Chinese society as fellows: “If you have received a drop of beneficence from other people, you should return to them a fountain of beneficence”.
A Chinese who has done a favor for you automatically feels that he or she is owned a favor from you in return. Actually “renqing” follows Confucian notion of reciprocity. There are many Chinese expressions that associated with “renqing”, such as giving somebody a “renqing” (song renqin) owing somebody a “renqing” ( qian renqing) ect..
-Face 面子 (miànzi)
Face is the concept of Mianzi . In Chinese culture, losing face, saving face and giving face is very important and should never be forgotten. A person can lose face as a result of losing his or her temper, confronting an individual or putting them on the spot or acting in an arrogant manner or failing to show appropriate respect.
Surface harmony is the art of maintaining composure and remaining polite and courteous. As an argument in a public place or a manager publicly scolding a subordinate would cause a loss of face, intermediaries are often used to deliver bad or unpleasant news. Surface harmony is seen to be of higher value than personal emotion and thus proper etiquette will serve to safeguard harmony and face.
Confucius, born in 551 BC, was a great philosopher whose thought held sway as orthodox ideology in China for some 2,000 years. One of his famous sayings goes: “In carrying our rites, it is harmony that is prized.” (礼之用, 和为贵。Lǐ zhī yòng, hé wéi guì. )
-Humility and modesty 客气 (kèqi)
Chinese people do not consider it polite to be arrogant and boast about one’s achievement and connections. Keqi is the concept of humility and modesty that is illustrated through being considerate, polite and well mannered. Ke means guest and qi means behavior. It not only means considerate, polite and well mannered, but also represents modesty.
-Reciprocity 礼尚往来 (lǐ shàng wǎnglái)
This concept can be defined as individuals and groups exchanging favors. People will ask for favors from those with whom they have guanxi.
-Collective vs. individual interest
Another deep-seated social belief is that of the collective interest being of greater importance than that of the individual. As a result, individuals should sacrifice their own interests in order to serve the needs of the majority.
Can you tell about the common expressions in mandarin Chinese fluently? If not, please contact ChineseHour Course Advisor (http://www.chinesehour.com ) right now, they are ready online to help you with Chinese learning all the time.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Renqing
Renqing translates into English as human sentiment or human emotion (ren refers to human being, qing refers to sentiment, emotion, favour, kindness, relationship). In Chinese philosophy, renqing denotes ‘a human being’s common emotional response, although it implies an obligatory affective component which serves to define the responsibility one has toward the other’ (Chang & Holt, 1991). The Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory defines renqing as ‘relationship orientation, which covers adherence to cultural norms of interaction based on reciprocity, exchange of social favours, and exchange of affection according to implicit rules.’ However, renqing cannot be equated with the concept of emotion in the Western tradition. Qu (1993) suggested that renqing involves the element of propriety, is a mixture of feelings, relations and morality, that is, the focus is on interpersonal relationships, not the self.
Renqing also implies a process whereby when one receives a favour based on a human obligation, the other person is obliged to pay back this favour sometime in the future.
The third connotation of renqing suggests gifts, presents or some sort of monetary gift. Zhuoge renqing indicates a unique Chinese gift-giving practice, which carries a strong implication of guanxi obligation. During special occasions such as New Year, weddings, birthdays and festivals, Chinese often feel duty-bound to give presents to individuals of priority within their guanxi network. For example, gifts to respected individuals or people of a superior or more powerful social status, gifts to individuals who helped them before and owe them renqing. These gift-giving activities are a large part of guanxi building and maintenance. The amount of the value of the gift varies somewhat according to the depth of the relationship. In general, the closer or stronger the guanxi relationships one has with another, the bigger the gift one should give to the other.
The fourth connotation of renqing suggests a wise understanding of human relationships. Chinese phrases such as renqing shigu suggest possessing a worldly wisdom about relationships. One would give a compliment to a grown-up ‘ta dong de renqing shigu’, who has a good understanding of guanxi practices and is mature enough to deal with the diplomatic guanxi matter.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Ties and interconnectedness
The relationships notion of guanxi is as intricate and resilient as its interlinking concepts. One’s social interactions, attitudes and behaviour are different depending on the types of guanxi relationships one has with the other person.
Hwang (1987) uses the terms ‘expressive ties’ and ‘instrumental ties’ to describe different levels of relationships. Although relatively vague, these distinctions have provided a good basis for later studies. He suggested that ‘expressive’ ties are formed through permanent and stable relationships, such as immediate family and close relatives. Based on an egalitarian or so-called ‘needs-based’ resource-distribution system, it ensures that those within the group who have greater needs (e.g., the young and the elderly) will be given a larger share of the group’s resources. ‘Instrumental ties’ were used to refer to more unstable and temporary situations (e.g., business ties). The resource allocation for instrumental relationships are based on contribution, or so called, the equity norm, that is, those who work harder receive a larger share. ‘Mixed ties’ are in-between, and refer to permanent and stable relationships that aren’t close blood ties. They often involve friends such as individuals from the same home town or same school. They are personal and affective relationships between exchange partners. Resource allocation is based on equality basis, that is, resources tend to be distributed equally to everyone regardless of need or contribution. Hwang further suggests that these three ties are not mutually exclusive as they represent a concentric circle of contacts.
Guanxi may fall into to one of these three categories: 1) the existence of a relationship between people who share a group status or are related to a common person; 2) connections between people who have frequent contact, and 3) contacts between people who have little direct interaction. Then, Tsang (1998) introduced the explanation of ‘guanxi base’ which entails either a blood relationship or some social interconnection (e.g., those who went to the same school, belong to the same neighbourhood, work in the same organization etc.).
July 11th, 2008 at 6:38 am
WHAT DOES “GUANXI” MEAN IN CHINESE? “关系”的含义
Guanxi, which is loosely translated in English as ‘relationships’ has found as one of the most deeply rooted Chinese values and the most important aspect of Chinese dispute resolution.
While examining the word ‘relationship’ in different dictionaries, it was found that the Chinese characters for guanxi suggest relationship in Chinese dictionary, which carries a multiple connotations that is incompatible when translated in a single English word (see Figure 1 in Appendix).
In the Oxford English Dictionary (1999), the word ‘relationship’ refers to 1) the way in which two or more people are connected or the state of being connected; 2) the way in which two or more people or groups feel about and behave toward each other; and 3) an emotional and sexual association between two people.
Unlike the English word, guanxi is an intricate, illusive concept (Kipnis, 1997; Dunfee & Warren, 2001) which cannot be clarified with a single definition. Guanxi has multiple semantic meanings. The Chinese Hanyu Dictionary (2000) gives the term guanxi at least five usages. First of all, the concept of guanxi is used to denote the existence of a relationship between people who share a common status group or are related to a common person. So guanxi in this context could refer to one’s social ties and connections with a certain group of people in general, or to the specific connections that exist between those people and the actual contact that they have. Secondly, guanxi is used to describe a way of behaving which is relatively diplomatic, involving practices such as regular visiting, reciprocal exchange of favours and gifts. Thirdly, guanxi can be used as term of bearing forgiveness, e.g., mei guanxi is often used in daily conversation to say ‘it doesn’t matter’ or ‘it doesn’t make much difference or effect’ (Note: mei means no, not and nil). For example, if one person says ‘I am sorry for being late’ they may receive a reply such as ‘mei guanxi’ or ‘it doesn’t matter’. Fourthly, guanxi could be used as an indicator of a causal relationship between two facts. (For example, youyu shijian guanxi, wo xian zhoule means ‘Because time is limited, I have to go now’). Fifthly, guanxi can be used as a verb, adjective or noun that indicates a consequential relationship, which is cause and effect. For instance, zhe guanxi dao wo de jiaren, literally say ‘this matter has affected my family’.
When applying the term of guanxi in a social context, the discourse of guanxi goes beyond any dictionary definition (Bian, 1994). Due to its nature, which is highly elastic and situational-based, the usage of the term guanxi is context-oriented and is therefore intricate.