Research On Curruption In China From Perspective Of "guanxi"

Corruption is chronic illness which has been accompanied by the development of human society.Scholars around the world have always been concerned about the problem from the perspective of different disciplines to interpret and discuss. Since the reform and opening up in China, the corruption has spread rapidly and continued to deteriorate. Domestic scholars start to conduct a lot of research and discussion on the corruption referring and using the concepts theories and models of Western corruption researches in China’s economic and social transformation process.However, whether the concepts, theories and models built by Western scholars and based on the study of corruption in Western societies can effectively explain the behavior and the phenomenon of corruption in our country which has a different cultural background or not, this research path itself still remains to be explored and discussed. On the other hand, on the background of institutional analysis becoming the main trend of the study of corruption in our country, the "guanxi" which is all-pervasive in our society and continues to play a role and exerts profound influence on social behavior (especially on acts of corruption), is largely ignored by the domestic researchers. Therefore, this article explores and researches corruption from perspectives of "guanxi" which is a unique phenomenon in our society.Due to the specificity of this research theme of corruption, it is difficult to adopt the method of investigation and seek the interpretation of the problem of corruption. Thus, this article adopts the literature research method by collecting, visualizing and analyzing a number of typical cases of corruption in the existing literature. And this article interprets corrupt behaviors from four aspects:the foundation of "guan xi", the operation of guanxi, the dynamics of guanxi, and the ethics of guanxi.Most corruption behavior in Chinese society is not as explained from perspectives i economics and politics as a simple process and results of "trading power for money". Whether corruption occurs, to a certain extent, depends on the presence or absence of the "guan xi" between the actors that often becomes a key factor in corruption behavior. The foundation of "guanxi" is the ascribed factor of the existence of "guanxi". The actors will take particularistic action according to their "guanxi" which could result in corruption behavior finally. When actors do not have the foundation of "guan xi" with each other, one party actors will build a relationship with the other party through the process of the operation of guanxi that uses one or more intermediators. This process of the operation of guanxi has the same logic with the foundation of "guan xi" which means that the operation of guanxi still needs to be built on the foundation of "guan xi" and the foundation of "guan xi" is also the source of the operation of "guanxi". No matter the actors has the foundation of "guan xi" or establish a relationship with each other by the operation of the "guan xi", in order to maintain and strengthen the guanxi between actors involved, it always needs to resort to banquet, gift and other methods to provide driving force, especially to transform bribery which is illegal to gift which could be recognized by social norms through self-justification in moral terms. And this strategy could serve as the basement which can enhance the legitimacy and rationality of the relationship between the two sides. The favor and face which is guanxi-oriented serve as a medium throughout the process of establishment, maintenance and development of guanxi among individuals. The foundation of guanxi, the operation of guanxi and the dynamics of guanxi all need to conduct under the guidance and regulation of social ethics and norms which were composed by the compulsory favor and the entrenched face. On the other hand, the ethics of guanxi also provides the three aspects above with basic framework to understand and explain.An operation mode of corruption in our society and its features make the understanding of the institution in our society, which is significantly different from that in Western society. The conception of institution which was originally very serious and important in western society cannot draw people’s attention and compliance in China. The intervention and integration of the "guanxi" factors, resulting in the institution can not play its normative role or weaken its effect in the face of the "guanxi". In other words, the effect of institution can make sense only if the "guanxi" does not exist. Thus, guanxi is the source of corruption, but not the imperfect institution causes corruption. Although our country tries to solve the problem of corruption by perfeceing integrity and improvement of the institution and spareing no effort in practice, the corruption has still not been fundamentally contained and resolved. The institution construction driven by the national power is a gradual, long process, the autogenous characteristic of culture leading to the principles and operation of the behavior patterns of corruption in this process remains the same, and quickly combined with the new factors so as to continue to convert and update its behavior manners. Therefore, using the influence of culture to promote individuals to obey the rules, using the power of the institution to force individuals to comply with the rules, forming a positive interaction between institution and culture. Finally this can provide a new way of thinking and a new path of selection to solve corruption.