Guanxi as a literary archetype in Chinese fiction

Abstract

In China, guanxi is a unique and ubiquitous informal social network. Previous research on guanxi has focused on management, sociology and economics in China. This paper proposes for the first time that guanxi is a significant literary archetype in Chinese fiction. The guanxi archetype originated from the coincidence between an upsurge in fiction writing and the social turbulence created by the economic transformation that occurred in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Confucianism, the cultural root of guanxi, was fortified during the violent ethical upheaval of this era, reinforcing guanxi’s status in both social realities and fictional narratives. As a form of social capital, guanxi was interwoven into the expanded commercialization in this transitional epoch, becoming a shortcut for securing one’s material interests through information asymmetry and flaws in the legal system and thus creating social inequity. Culturally, guanxi therefore earned derogatory implications during the late Ming dynasty, when commercialism prospered, in contrast to its positive evaluation in the early Ming dynasty, when commercialism was less significant. As guanxi is a ubiquitous institution that has been embedded in the social structure of China for more than 2000 years and thoroughly permeates quotidian life, the guanxi archetype persists in modern and contemporary fiction. With the increasing importance of guanxi in China, it will not only remain a significant literary archetype but also be an avenue to interpret Chinese literature.