"Guanxi" is at the basis of Chinese commercial culture.In...

"Guanxi" is at the basis of Chinese commercial culture.

In Australia, I have attended industry conferences, given papers and entertained potential clients, to both impress them and build a social bond. My purpose was to sell my services and educate people. As hapens, most of my friends are former industry colleagues, so I can't have done a bad job. Yesterday, I went to a former student's mother's house to pick up a present of abalone - my interest was appreciated and I will be supplying the abalone to a Chinese friend who has a business teaching Asian cooking.

However, "guanxi" is a stronger concept in Chinese commercial culture where mutual bonds are forged, enabling either party to call on the other for non-refusable favours. This goes outside of LYC, but I was pondering, if the Chinese want to slow LYC, they could call in favours from Malaysian Chinese who are doing business in mainland China.

The prospect must be of some concern, and I hope that LYC has covered its bases.