“Guanxi Management” and “Facework” in Modern Chinese Business Culture
Skalnaya, O. (2024). “Guanxi Management” and “Facework” in Modern Chinese Business Culture. Centro de Estudios sobre China y Asia-Pacífico, Lima: Universidad del Pacífico. https://cechap.up.edu.pe/wp-content/uploads/2024-Skalnaya-Oxana.pdf
Interest in modern Chinese business culture is associated with the processes of intensifying political, economic, and cultural ties with China. For successful business cooperation with Chinese counterparts, it is imperative to understand underlying sociocultural traditions of Chinese society and how they are reflected in modern Chinese business practices. The cultural concepts of guanxi and face are closely related to the social and personal ethics of Confucianism. They constitute common business practices in China, organically integrating into the collective intelligence of the Chinese people. In increasingly digital China, business communications evolve into new forms, changing the traditional face-to-face social rituals. New online practices of “guanxi management” and “facework” become an integral part of the modern Chinese business culture and deserve special attention. In this paper, we will first introduce the basic principles of “guanxi management” and “facework” in business environment in China and then analyze modern digital forms of building guanxi online, as well “facework” strategies on the social platform WeChat. Understanding the sociocultural background of how modern business relations in China are managed is necessary for building effective and long-term cooperation with the Chinese counterparts.
