ABSTRACT
Despite the Chinese central government’s anti-corruption policies and restrictions on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres’ conduct, many rural cadres still hold or join lavish banquets, but in secret. Why do cadres take such risks? Why is banqueting so important for them? This ethnographic study in one rural county shows how instrumental banqueting (fanju) and associated interactions enhance exchange among rural cadres and businessmen, which can be understood as a process of relational work. This relational work exaggerates and adorns participants’ personal relationships and constructs a moral basis for corruption. This style of relational work uses the Confucian notion of li as an excuse to show benevolence(ren), creating "ritualized relational work." This paper contributes to an understanding of the resilience of guanxi practices during President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
Acknowledgments
We greatly appreciate the helpful suggestions given by Dr. Peng Wang of the University of Hong Kong. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.
Notes
33 Varese, Wang and Wong 2019, 594-613.
48 Zelizer’s concept has been used by scholars in many research areas, such as informal labor (Alacovska Citation2018), the digital economy (Alacovska et al. Citation2022), and poverty alleviation (Jindra et al. Citation2020). Scholars outside of economic sociology have used this concept primarily in reference to the management of social relations in noneconomic forms of interactions (Cf. Fletcher Citation1999; Tilly Citation2006; Locher and Watts Citation2008). Gabriel Rossman has used “obfuscatory relational work” in his research on disreputable or taboo exchange, that is morally objectionable transactions that seem to make the sacred commensurate with the profane (Rossman Citation2014). According to Rossman, obfuscation masks intentionality, minimizes explicit reciprocity, and makes problematical exchange appear to be a common and ethical practice. (See Rossman, Citation2014: 46).
54 However, some secret banquets were considered to be so important and secret that the author was not invited to attend.
55 By comparison, the salary of a high school teacher in this county is between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan per month.
56 These four are the secretary of the county party committee, the county head, the chairman of the county People’s Congress, and a department-level cadre retired to the second line. These four individuals are all at the level of departmental cadres (正处级).
58 These five relationships are: ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, brothers, and friends.
62 A Chinese saying, it means taking efforts and risks to help friends.
67 Ren refers to the ethical ideal and li to certain traditional norms that govern human conduct (Jiarong Liang, Citation2010; K. Shun Citation2002). Li is the outer expression of ren, the instrument in the cultivation of ren, and can even be the measurement of ren. However, in some guanxi practices, people simply copy the forms of li in their ritual practice without any motivation for achieving ren, but with self-interest in mind. The result is ritualized relational work, which justifies their social exchange.
Additional information
Funding
This research was supported by a grant from the National Social Science Fund of China (23BSH027)
Notes on contributors
Ji Ruan
Ji Ruan is a professor at Guizhou Minzu University. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Kent. His main research interests are guanxi, rural studies, marriage, education, and Confucianism. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Yuewei Zhang
Yuewei Zhang is an Associated Professor of Art at Guizhou Normal University and a doctoral candidate in sociology at Guizhou Minzu University. Her main research interest is cultural sociology. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Shizhan Ruan
Shizhan Ruan is a postgraduate student in the School of Sport and Exercise at the University of Kent. His main research interests are social networking and medical sociology. He can be contacted at [email protected].
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0524-8596
![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})