By Any Other Name

I believe that China has the only culture to give a name to the capital that relationships accrue – the goodwill and indebtedness that one might feel as a result of friendship, or simply because someone did you a favor that you must one day repay.

To be sure, other cultures have similar concepts; some, like Russia’s blat are considered corrupt while others, such as the Middle Eastern wasta, amount to nepotism.

In the business world, that concept is expressed by the term ‘networking’. One networks in order to establish relationships that could eventually become beneficial.

When seen in that light, building beneficial relationships for future usage sounds pretty distasteful, doesn’t it?

All of these ideas may amount to the same thing – an obligation incurred by or to someone with whom you are in a relationship.

Still, none are quite as prevalent, well-defined or as integral to the culture as China’s concept of guanxi.

The more I travel the world and the more people I meet, the more I find that such relationships are necessary, especially if you are just learning how to function in a new society.

Take Luisa and Ewelina, for example.

I did not befriend them for possible future use; I found them to be lovely, intelligent young women whom I would love to get to know better.

In their turn, they help me get along not for some benefit they might later enjoy but because they are good, kind, caring people. 

I believe that these qualities and motivations are the basis for friendship. Whether there are any gains to be had is immaterial.

The topic that brought this blog article about is something quite different...

~~~~~~

Thursday: 11^th meeting of the Szczecin English Language Club.

Much to my surprise, a total of seven people – five besides Jerzy and myself, had pledged to attend!

Not that I mind meeting with only Jerzy; we do get into some deep discussion... I did tell you some of his views are extreme?

Imagine my reaction to his saying women’s contributions to science and society were irrelevant...

Thursday: a bit larger a group to talk with. Yay!

Emilia would be there; I had met her before and had worried about her absence from the last two meetings.

Besides her: Oskar, a shy coder currently writing software for games, Tomasz, a retired coder and Sylwia a teacher who wants to be a coder. And, of course, Jerzy, our group leader who is also a coder.

It was a lively group coders (plus a musician and a writer). We skipped from topic to topic, getting to know one another.

Oskar has a job interview next Friday with an American software company; he is scared to death that his English skills are lacking, that his overwhelming shyness will do him in and that he simply won’t get the job.

Tomasz, native to Szczecin, left Poland for the states in 1987, after the fall of the communist regime. Now wary and weary of the socio-political climate in his adopted home, he has opted to enjoy retirement here.  

It was great to have him on my side of the table, literally and figuratively, when discussing life in the US because Jerzy doesn’t necessarily believe the things I say. Now, with a male voice chiming in, he has no choice but to credit my recountings!

Sylwia teaches both English and Polish but confesses her English language skills are poor because she doesn’t have much chance to speak English; for her, this group was a boon!

I am familiar with that phenomenon; English teachers in China also had trouble exercising their language skills; they often resorted to teaching English in Chinese. 

Could any of these conversations be considered building guanxi?

Sylwia was drawing immediate benefit from this meeting; her goal was to practice speaking English and it was met.

Oskar might also have benefited because he was combatting shyness as well as practicing his English skills.

For the rest of us, it was just the pleasure of socializing that made the event great. All in all, not much guanxi on display.

And then, Tomasz asked about my crooked arm.

The retelling was not a long tale of woe but the bare facts: I had been denied medical care because I didn’t have the right kind of insurance.

Tomasz expressed disgust at the way such things are handled here.

Emilia chimed in: she knows a great physical therapist who might be able to do something to help my misshapen arm.

To which Tomasz exclaimed: “That is the way things work in this country! You have to know someone to get anything!”

He then enjoined: “take my phone number; if you have any problems talking with anyone, you can call me and I will translate for you.”

And then, he went further to say he would check the Polish national insurance web page to see whether I could buy insurance without yet having my residence permit.

There is no corresponding page in English and I don’t yet have the language skills to conduct a search in Polish. Searching in English turns up no results.

Emilia also averred she stood at the ready to intercede on my behalf, be it on insurance matters or with the receptionist at the physical therapist’s office.

Talk about wonderful, helpful people! But is there guanxi-building going on?

As the meeting was breaking up, I offered to coach Oskar for his interview. Gratitude flooded his face, evident by the rosy blooms in his cheeks and his suddenly watery eyes.

~~~~~~

As Emilia and I walked home together, she mentioned she’d like to have me over for a meal and to meet her boyfriend and his son.

The two of them are reluctant English speakers and she would like for them to have exposure to a native speaker of English. I told her I would relish the opportunity to coax them to speak and loose plans were formed.

It was a blissfully cool night after several brutally hot days.

It was a good meeting with interesting people – yes, even Jerzy with his extreme views is interesting.

It was a confirmation that humans are indeed social animals.

Even I, profound loner, need and enjoy human contact and, apparently, I am about to embroil myself into more of it than I’ve experienced in the last 6 months.

There was evidence of guanxi this evening.

Not necessarily in the offers of help that were made but in the proposed exchange of favors between Emilia and myself.

I am grateful in the extreme for those offers made to me and I imagine that others were also grateful for the offers they received.

Some might see that as merely a budding friendship but, once you’ve experienced guanxi, it is hard to not recognize it for what it is: capitalizing on a relationship.

I am not angry about it because the art of guanxi calls for balancing out one’s usage of a relationship with equal capital.

Come to think of it, there was also a mention of guanxi – not that actual name but in the assertion of how Polish society functions; that one must know someone in order to get anything done. 

That just goes to show that guanxi by any other name – or no name at all is just as delicate, intricate and integral to a functioning society, even if it is not recognized or acknowledged as such.