ABSTRACT
This chapter takes the investigation of guanxi a step further to disclose the impetus in Chinese relational culture, namely, the need to save face and the social expectation of reciprocation behind corruptive guanxi. By Chinese conventions, repaying what one is given was once said to be “proper” behavior. Confucius’s moral code obliged everyone to repay gifts, favors or injustice in a culturally acceptable way. As such, reciprocity plays an important role in people’s self-discipline for human decency. But when reciprocity is entangled with the powerful notion of “face” – a respectable and honorable appearance in society – the kindness and generosity which was typical of the early practice of reciprocity begin to be corrupted. Such was seen as a serious situation in 2013, when the current Chinese regime launched an “anti-corruption” campaign which ended with the indictments of 51,306 government officials, out of which 31,000 were found guilty. Researchers point their fingers at the alchemy of reciprocation and functions of “face” as the two mutually re-enforcing factors that lubricate the slippery slope to corruption. But they also cautioned that, without the sword of justice, the function of which is to sever that connection, China’s relational culture would serve as fertile ground for the corruptive guanxi to proliferate.
