For my part of Version 1, I tried to really grok the Chinese cultural concept of Guanxi. I think I succeeded. I haven’t been to China, so I can’t say for sure how accurately the idea in my head called “Guanxi” actually represents the Chinese experience, but I’m sure I acquired a new way of thinking. I also learned quite a bit on how to (or rather how to avoid having to) teach a new way of thinking, but Kia said it better.
To give a quick overview: In China, ideas of social currency and networking are taken much more seriously than they are in the West. Most Westerners, until recently myself included, figure that building a social network is something that ‘just happens’ at best and is something that incompetent people have to fall back on at worst. The Chinese have a different attitude: they consider Guanxi, (which could more accurately be called “social wealth” than “social currency” because it’s created and destroyed in similar ways) to be as valuable (or more valuable) than real wealth. It is just commonly recognized as a “no-duh” thing to seek it out and avoiding losing.
It’s a bit weird maybe, but the best way I had of understanding Guanxi was to think back on The Sims. In The Sims, every relationship (an undirected edge in the graph, for you Comp-Sci nerds) has an unnamed value that represents the relationship’s strength. Guanxi is similar, although it does not fade over time and has more to do with trustworthiness and indebtedness than personal feelings or friendship.
And this ties into the game design lens of Guanxi: Guanxi is a game mechanic that is designed to encourage certain kinds of behavior. If real life were an MMORPG, Guanxi would be a mechanic for preventing ‘trolling’ and encouraging cooperation.
Although totally practicing a Guanxi-enlightened attitude in the West is not nearly as effective as it would be in China, there are plenty of lessons to learn, and it’s become a regular lens through which I can see interpersonal interactions. There are also many customs in China that are closely related to Guanxi that seem to me like they could work really well in the West as well, like using casual gift-giving as a way of building Guanxi.
Cool stuff.
– Charlie
Cupcakes and Scary Ideas 