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Current research on guanxi (Chinese social connections) suffers from conceptual confusion. This article presents a new theoretical framework for understanding guanxi in the face of China's economic and social transformations. Guanxi is viewed as a purposive network behavior that can take different "strategic" forms, such as accessing, bridging, and embedding. Pairing this conceptualization with a socialevolutionary framework, I argue that the emergence and increasing or decreasing prevalence of each form over time result from (1) a combination of factors at three analytical levels-microagency, mesonetwork, and macroinstitutional-and (2) endogenous processes of selection. By focusing on behavioral forms and their evolution, this framework is able to bridge divides in the guanxi literature, provide a foundation for comparative studies of network behavior across societies, and connect the study of guanxi with economic sociology more broadly.
The Mandarin Chinese word guanxi means "connections" or "relations." In recent decades, this term has made its way into popular discourse and academic discussion as a result of growing interest in China's rising economy and changing society. China scholars generally agree that the word guanxi implies social obligation and the solicitation of special favors (Gold et al. 2002; Peng 2004). However, there is no consensus on what type of social phenomenon guanxi represents or on the role it will play as China continues to develop economically.
The disagreement is particularly acute between cultural scholars and institutional theorists (Guthrie 1998; Yang 2002). On one side, cultural scholars view guanxi as a unique type of relationship or a behavioral pattern deeply rooted in Chinese history and culture, where "particularistic ties" have long been used for instrumental purposes (Jacobs 1979; Lin 2001; Tsui and Farh 1997). The exchange and social interaction involved in guanxi are said to be influenced by culture-based elements such as kinship ties, local traditions, and social norms reinforced by Confucianism (Fei [1947] 1992; Hwang 1987; Kipnis 1997; Yan 1996). Some further claim that guanxi is a specific strategic behavior inherited from Chinese culture that provides a set of social capital tools to access resources through the exchange of social obligations (Park and Luo 2001; Tsang 1998). Since, according to this view, guanxi has cultural roots, cultural scholars generally see it as ubiquitous and expect that it will remain important to Chinese...