what is guanxi 
guanxi pronounced gwan ch is a chinese term meaning relationships in business it commonly refers to the networks or connections used to open doors for new business and facilitate deals the term refers not just to the existence of relationships but to their nature to having personal trust and a strong relationship it can also create moral obligations and require the exchanging of favors a person who has a great deal of guanxi will be better positioned to generate business than someone who lacks it closely intertwined with the confucian philosophy that has shaped many asian cultures guanxi holds that the self extends to family friends and society to create a harmonious community guanxi implies an obligation that one has to another in china the belief is that the wheels of business are lubricated with guanxi the exchange of favors between people in a network need not be the same merely saying that guanxi connects to confucian philosophy does not complete the explanation of the term confucian thought dates back more than 2 000 years and continues to be highly influential in china today given the importance of confucian thought it should be no surprise that its stress on relationships and duty to others should be reflected in the notion of guanxi in chinese business relationships business comes before the personal in the western business model and the two do not often combine in guanxi however the two are closely joined indeed the original chinese symbols relate to the concept of a gateway to a relationship a neat and relatively accurate way to think of guanxi in other words the exercise of guanxi leads to the connections through which business can happen 