another lazy post

I haven't gotten any feedback on the last post, but I'm hoping I'll get at least one comment on this one...yet another article from my book as I'm feeling too lazy to write about anything else at the moment.

Thriving & Surviving - Guanxi
One of the most elusive concepts while I have been living in Taiwanese culture is guanxi 關係. Guanxi literally translates into “relationship” and is applied to both personal and professional situations. It refers to the benefits gained from social networks, whether they are family, school, work friends, clubs, or organizations.


From a western perspective, guanxi can be easily misconstrued as the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours mentality, but guanxi is much more than just who you know and what they can do for you. It’s a way to behave in every personal encounter you have which can be mystifying at first, but later make a strange sort of sense. Let’s take tipping as an example. In western cultures, it’s a given that you should tip to say thank-you for the service you receive. In Taiwan, tipping is not only unexpected, it’s frowned upon and sometimes even downright insulting. If you got into the wrong cab and told the taxi driver to keep the change, they might refuse or get angry about it. Due to guanxi, the taxi driver might consider your tip as an act of charity, and when unasked for, this can be a major loss of face. They also might think you’re vying for special treatment by giving them money, putting them in your debt. While it might seem innocuous, traditionally minded Taiwanese take it very seriously.


Probably the fastest way to lose face is to get angry and start shouting in public. Taiwanese people almost never do this, even if they have just cause. Someone could run over their foot, steal their wallet, or cut them off in line and no one says a thing. The thinking is that the person who caused the offense is the one who has already lost face. Basically, you let people away with stuff that would never fly back home because they are embarrassing themselves already. I’ve had to stop myself a couple of times and even had a very uncomfortable experience where I snapped on a mentally challenged high school kid. Nothing says loss of face when you see a sweaty, angry foreigner taking out his bad day on a disable teen in front of about 75 people. Still, guanxi’s a tough pill to swallow and there are a few occasions where I’ve seen Taiwanese people lose their shit. This will literally stop people on the street. (watching someone explode is apparently not part of guanxi)


From a professional perspective, guanxi exists everywhere. In Taiwan, teaching English to any student before Grade 1 is illegal, yet every buxiban offers immersion programs that employ foreign teachers. To keep the Labor and Immigration police away, schools use their guanxi to protect their school. This can either be through who you know, or how much you pay. Schools with little to no guanxi are usually the one’s that are targeted frequently.


Love it or hate it, guanxi is part of life in Taiwan and other Chinese cultures. If get a grasp of the basics, you’ll soon just smile at the moron who just cut the line in 7-11.