Doing Business in China For Dummies®

Looking at the Limitations of Guan Xi

Here are a couple reasons that relying on guan xi can come back to bite you:

✓	Guan xi is great until one of your key relationships changes jobs or positions. The situation’s bad if the replacement doesn’t know you; it’s even worse if she and her predecessor were rivals — then, she may hold your relationship with her predecessor against you! If you were dependant upon the person who changed jobs, you may find yourself in a difficult situation.
✓	Everybody has bosses. Although your contact may have told you or promised you one thing, his superiors may not approve it. This situation happens often with government officials who misjudge how their higher ups will react. So even though your contact meant what he told you, in a place as bureaucratic as China is, things are almost always subject to somebody else’s approval.

Although good guan xi is great to have, make sure you have a Plan B in case your contact doesn’t come through.