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Difference between revisions of "Goudui and Yingchou (China)"
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Rich. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref>). ''Goudui'' can be understood as the work and techniques one employs to establish a mutually beneficial ''guanxi''-type relationship. When successfully employed, ''goudui'' techniques imbue a relationship with a modicum of affect and ethics, thus priming it for a reciprocal ''guanxi'' exchange. Without the work of ''goudui'', the favour-seeker would be likely to appear too interested in a short-term benefit, and the relationship would run the risk of being reduced to a mere transaction. Outside of southwest China, where the term ''goudui'' is well-established, Mandarin speakers would probably use the phrase ‘''gao guanxi''’ (搞关系to do or to establish ''guanxi'') in its place. | Rich. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref>). ''Goudui'' can be understood as the work and techniques one employs to establish a mutually beneficial ''guanxi''-type relationship. When successfully employed, ''goudui'' techniques imbue a relationship with a modicum of affect and ethics, thus priming it for a reciprocal ''guanxi'' exchange. Without the work of ''goudui'', the favour-seeker would be likely to appear too interested in a short-term benefit, and the relationship would run the risk of being reduced to a mere transaction. Outside of southwest China, where the term ''goudui'' is well-established, Mandarin speakers would probably use the phrase ‘''gao guanxi''’ (搞关系to do or to establish ''guanxi'') in its place. | ||
The parallel practice of ''Yingchou'' (pronounced ing-choh) refers to the ritualised entertaining that is an integral component of workplace, business, and bureaucratic relationships in China. Unlike ''goudui'', the term ''yingchou'' is used throughout China. The forms of ''yingchou'' are largely analogous to those of ''goudui'' and involve banqueting, drinking, karaoke singing, and occasionally commercial sex. ''Yingchou'' is often used to refer to any work or career related social engagement and thus may include instances of ''goudui''. What distinguishes ''goudui'' from ''yingchou'' is that ''goudui'' implies a narrow focus on deepening a particular relationship for an instrumental end, whereas evenings of ''yingchou'' may simply involve maintaining good relationships with one’s colleagues, partners, clients, or superiors without a specific person or favour in mind. Despite the appearance of leisure or fun to an outside observer, yingchou is considered an essential component of work. One entrepreneur memorably remarked (Author’s interview) that, as a businessman, ‘''Yingchou is'' my job’ (''yingchou jiushi wode gongzuo''). Given the importance of ''yingchou'' to career advancement and business deals, entrepreneurs and government officials often have nightly ''yingchou'' obligations. Elanah Uretsky (2016) has documented the toll this constant drinking, eating, smoking, and commercial sex has taken on elite men’s health, resulting in a high incidence of chronic and sexually transmitted diseases among this group. In addition to the physical impact of ''yingchou'' and ''goudui'', many of the businessmen (Author | The parallel practice of ''Yingchou'' (pronounced ing-choh) refers to the ritualised entertaining that is an integral component of workplace, business, and bureaucratic relationships in China. Unlike ''goudui'', the term ''yingchou'' is used throughout China. The forms of ''yingchou'' are largely analogous to those of ''goudui'' and involve banqueting, drinking, karaoke singing, and occasionally commercial sex. ''Yingchou'' is often used to refer to any work or career related social engagement and thus may include instances of ''goudui''. What distinguishes ''goudui'' from ''yingchou'' is that ''goudui'' implies a narrow focus on deepening a particular relationship for an instrumental end, whereas evenings of ''yingchou'' may simply involve maintaining good relationships with one’s colleagues, partners, clients, or superiors without a specific person or favour in mind. Despite the appearance of leisure or fun to an outside observer, yingchou is considered an essential component of work. One entrepreneur memorably remarked (Author’s interview) that, as a businessman, ‘''Yingchou is'' my job’ (''yingchou jiushi wode gongzuo''). Given the importance of ''yingchou'' to career advancement and business deals, entrepreneurs and government officials often have nightly ''yingchou'' obligations. Elanah Uretsky (2016) has documented the toll this constant drinking, eating, smoking, and commercial sex has taken on elite men’s health, resulting in a high incidence of chronic and sexually transmitted diseases among this group. In addition to the physical impact of ''yingchou'' and ''goudui'', many of the businessmen (Author interviews) in the early 2000s complained of feeling overburdened by nightly social obligations that kept them away from their families and devoid of leisure time (Osburg 2013<ref>Osburg, J. 2013. Anxious Wealth: Money and Morality Among China’s New.</ref>). | ||
While ''goudui'' practices undergird the majority of relationships and exchanges largely thought of as corruption in China, ''goudui'' should be distinguished from bribery. While a bribe is typically an impersonal transaction, ''goudui'' techniques are an attempt to transform a relationship into one imbued with affect and governed by the norms of friendship, if not kinship. In interviews conducted in the early 2000s businessmen stressed that engaging in ''goudui'' was often the precondition for offering a bribe: only when a relationship of trust and friendship was established through ''goudui'' could one frame a bribe in a tactful manner, as a ‘gift’ or a token of friendship (see Smart and Hsu 2007<ref>Smart, A., Hsu, C. 2007. ‘Corruption or Social Capital: Tact and the Performance of Guanxi in Market Socialist China.’ In Monique Nuijten and Gerhard Anders, (eds.) Corruption and the Secret of Law. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.</ref>). While commodified forms of expenditure—dinners, bribes, gifts, etc.— are available to all, only those who could successfully marshal these objects in service of deepening ties have succeeded in ''goudui''. | While ''goudui'' practices undergird the majority of relationships and exchanges largely thought of as corruption in China, ''goudui'' should be distinguished from bribery. While a bribe is typically an impersonal transaction, ''goudui'' techniques are an attempt to transform a relationship into one imbued with affect and governed by the norms of friendship, if not kinship. In interviews conducted in the early 2000s businessmen stressed that engaging in ''goudui'' was often the precondition for offering a bribe: only when a relationship of trust and friendship was established through ''goudui'' could one frame a bribe in a tactful manner, as a ‘gift’ or a token of friendship (see Smart and Hsu 2007<ref>Smart, A., Hsu, C. 2007. ‘Corruption or Social Capital: Tact and the Performance of Guanxi in Market Socialist China.’ In Monique Nuijten and Gerhard Anders, (eds.) Corruption and the Secret of Law. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.</ref>). While commodified forms of expenditure—dinners, bribes, gifts, etc.— are available to all, only those who could successfully marshal these objects in service of deepening ties have succeeded in ''goudui''. | ||