Concepts in Chinese culture

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 relationships 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.

This concept can be defined as individuals and groups exchanging favors. People will ask for favors from those with whom they have guanxi.

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.

This 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 case 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.

The Chinese 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.

As a general rule, rules of behavior such as offering an apology after bumping into a person do not apply those outside of one’s inner circle of friends. As a result, concepts very familiar in the west such as being kind to strangers and being charitable are not widely shared.

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.