Confucian Asian Cluster and the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi

Confucian Asian Cluster and the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi 

During the seventh class of Intercultural Management, my teammates and I presented the Confucian Asia and Southern cluster in which we talked about some metaphors that represents the culture of both clusters.  Additionally, during this class we had the presence of Doctor Pablo Echavarria ex-ambassador of Colombia in China who made a presentation about culture, Confucianism, etiquette and protocol in China.

Firstly, I am going to talked about the Confucian Asian cluster giving a small historical background of Confucianism, then I will give some metaphors from this cluster especially from China and Japan. Secondly, I will introduce the Southern Asian cluster; follow by some metaphors from Thailand and India. Finally, I would like to point out the concept of Guanxi and Mianzi from Chinese society. 

The Confucian Asian and Southern Asian cluster is represented by:  

Confucian Asia cluster	Southern Asian cluster
Singapore	Philippines
Hong Kong	Indonesia
Taiwan	Malaysia
China	India
South Korea	Thailand
Japan	Iran

In order to understand the Confucian Asia cluster, it is important to recognize the influence of the Confucianism in the Asian society. Confucianism “can be defined as a philosophical system based on the teachings of Confucius (551-479 b.C), continued and developed by his disciples during the last 2.500 years” (Echavarria, 2015). The Confucianism is characterized by using culture as a mean to promote human feelings and maintain the integrity and welfare of individuals especially when talking about the roles in the state. This premise can be seem throughout countries that received Chinese influences or adopted certain characteristics from Chinese society such as Singapore, Korea and Japan.

The beliefs are called Li, Hsiao, Yi, Xin, Jen and Chung, which represents in order etiquette, love within family, righteousness, honesty and trustworthiness, benevolence and loyalty to the state. This beliefs are art of Confucian  

Japanese metaphors: the Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden represents the integral relation between the nature and the society as Professor Ganon says “Like the water flowing through a Japanese garden, Japanese society is fluid, changing yet retaining its essential character…” even though Japanese has passed through different stages in a short period of time (Feudal society Shoguns, Meiji Restoration, Imperial State and finally constitutional monarchy). The Japanese society has been able to sustain their traditions and beliefs through the years. For example, its common to see western marriages In Japan, however, they like to use the traditional Japanese Kimono. In addition, the Japanese language has absorbed different terms and definitions that comes from other languages especially English; for exampleコンビニ konbini that traduces convenience store.

Chinese metaphors: The Great Wall and Chinese language

The Great Wall in my opinion represents the beliefs of the Confucianism especially the loyalty to the state. The constructors of the Great Wall were thinking about the protection of the state and the protection of their families from the north invaders (Mongols). Such a big construction guaranteed peace during centuries in which Chinese society flourish. In addition, the Great Wall represents the determination of Chinese society to maintain their traditions and language through years. Moreover, the Chinese language has evolved within China adapting certain characteristics from their multi-ethnic society and recompiling in a single language.

The Southern Asian Cluster

The Southern Asian cluster is a combination of different multi-religions societies that influenced aspects such as food, beliefs, language, customs and others throughout the Southern Cluster. The region received influenced by the Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity (mainly in the Philippines). However, I will concentrated on Buddhism which is one the biggest religions in India and Thailand.

Sidarta Gautama in India founded the Buddhism during the IV b.C. Buddhism aims to “focus on personal spiritual development. Buddhists strive for a deep insight into the true nature of life and do not worship gods or deities” (British Broadcasting Company , s.f.). 

     

Thai metaphors: the Thai Kingdom  

One of the best examples of metaphors from Thailand is the King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The King uses vertical hierarchy, which means that people have asymmetric positions in a linear hierarchy in which subordinates defer, respect and obey; in other words, superiors have strong power while less powerful people tends to follow orders. However, the king has strong relations with their subordinates, which indicates that the concept of Kreng Cai (taking the other feelings into account) is widely used by the king. In addition, the King Bhumidol is not involve in daily governmental issues, however, when the situation warrants, the king gives his opinions and are highly accepted by Thai politicians and society.

Indian metaphors: Nataraj: The Dancing Shiva

The Dancing of Shiva represents for Indian society the main important aspects of Hinduism. In addition, represents the cycles of creation and destruction and the daily rhythm of birth and death. This representation was developed during the Chola period (880-1279 CE) and gained rapid recognition by Indian society throughout the years.

The four hands of Lord Shiva represents the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) Finally, the dance of Shiva also represents his five activities: 'Shrishti' (creation, evolution); 'Sthiti' (preservation, support); 'Samhara' (destruction, evolution); 'Tirobhava' (illusion); and 'Anugraha' (release, emancipation, grace).

Guanxi and Mianzi by Doctor Pablo Echavarria

When talking about Guanxin and Mianzi, we are talking about Chinese culture itself. Guanxi means personal connections or favour-sharing relationship with individuals. Guanxi is use in every aspect of the Chinese culture to get objectives or solve problems; that is why the Chinese people pays a lot of attention in the connections. As Doctor Pablo says, “In China, does not matter what you know, matter the people you know” meaning that there is not impossible if you have friends in the right place.

While in other parts of the world doing business could be something easy, in China is not. Chinese people pays a lot of attention in Guanxi or building relations; that is why when closing a deal meetings could extend for a couple of weeks or months. This is because, for Chinese people is primordial to get to know the other counterpart and expends a lot of time doing so. They will invite you to several banquets or informal meetings sessions to drink tea with the main objective of getting to know everything related with you and your family and they would like you to know their family.

By the other hand, we have the concept of Mianzi. Mianzi means Face or reputation and defines the role (hierarchy) of a person within the society. Reputation in China is much more important in Chinese society that in western societies. Losing face in the Chinese society represents not only a problem for the person also represents a problem for all the family.

Research question

Is there a concept similar to Guanxi in other Asian countries?

The Korean and Japanese societies have similar concepts to Guanxi. However, Korea and Japan put attentions in other things that creating a favour-sharing relation with individuals.

For Japanese society, the concept is known as Wa or harmony, “group loyalty, and consensus building.  Developing long-term relationships and plans, and loyalty to an organization or company are very important in Japan.  Loyalty to an organization or company is placed above loyalty to individuals”. In other words, Wa means the construction of loyalty within the company (Cultural Savvy, 2014)

For Korean society, the focus is "inhwa", or harmony as defined by the Confucian system.  It is a system of loyalty between unequals such as ruler-subject, husband-wife, father-son (Cultural Savvy, 2014).

As conclusion, even though countries share similar concepts they are focus in different things; while Chinese focus on building favour-sharing relations, Japanese builds loyalty within the company or organization and Korean builds loyalty towards family.  

Bibliography

British Broadcasting Company . (s.f.). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/

Cultural Savvy. (2014). Cultural Savvy . Retrieved from http://www.culturalsavvy.com/did_you_know_archives_2.htm

Echavarria, P. (11 de Marzo de 2015). Confucianismo, Cultura y Etiqueta en China. Medellín .