Book - English version

Chinese version, Guanxi vs Li shang wanglai ? --- Reciprocity, Social Support Networks, & Social Creativity in a Chinese Village, translated by Minghua Mao. It has been selected in the 'Rural China Studies' Series, edited by Haoxing Liu (the series had been granted as the Major Publishing Project of the State's the 'Eleventh Five-Year' Plan for Important Publications), will be published by Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2009; 中文版：《礼尚往来: 江村互惠、社会支持网和社会创造的研究》，常向群著，毛明华译，此书被选入刘豪兴主编,'中国乡村考察报告'丛书(国家'十一五'重点图书出版规划重大出版工程项目)上海人民出版社2009年版）.
English version (forthcoming): in process. 

Phrases below are selected from sections of Preface and Scholars comments:

Abstract

Using a variety of methods learnt from her sociological and social anthropological training both in China and the West, and based on long term, in-depth fieldwork in a Chinese village on the topics of 'reciprocity, social support and creativity', the author has reached her concept of 'lishang-wanglai' by combining related Chinese notions of guanxi, mianzi (face), renqing, especially li shang wanglai, Fei Xiaotong's chaxugeju (social egoism), and accommodating notions of 'capital', social, cultural, human, symbolic and so on, as a part of the resources. This concept consists of generous, expressive, instrumental and negative forms of reciprocity (wanglai), governed by criteria of moral judgment, human feeling, rational calculation and spiritual belief (lishang), and combines a static model and dynamic networks with an integration of social support networks. The author then proposes that the driving force of the lishang-wanglai model is social creativity. This book showcases how an in-depth and comprehensive study of 'relationships' or 'relatedness', the core of Chinese social and cultural contexts, can increase our general understanding of human society. At the same time, it offers a theoretical paradigm for establishing a 'Sociology of China' and a 'Social Anthropology of China' from the perspective of Chinese scholars. Although the concept of 'lishang-wanglai' is forged from studies of rural Chinese society, this book will help scholars from sociology, anthropology, political science, social policy, administrative science, management science, international relations, development studies, China studies, as well as researchers for governmental and non-governmental policy-oriented studies, cultural or business consultants, and people inside and outside China who seek a better understanding of the nature and rules of change in Chinese society.

Preface

Interpersonal relationships have been the hallmark of Chinese sociology ever since 1940, when Fei Xiaotong proposed a distinction between the Western individual, defined by equal membership whether of a group or many groups, like a straw in a bundle, and the Chinese individual, defined as the centre of a widening circle of reciprocal and hierarchical relationships, like the ripples made by a stone thrown into a pond. A large number of scholars, Chinese and non-Chinese, philosophers and historians, as well as sociologists and anthropologists, have since that time examined and elaborated a number of key Chinese terms, central to the moral philosophy and character of Chinese social relationships.

At the same time, grand theorists of social evolution, in particular Talcott Parsons with his theory of evolution from particularistic to universalistic social structures, and Marcel Mauss with his theory of total social presentation giving way to socially embedded but impersonal money-mediated exchange, have been questioned and modified. Their evolutionary dichotomies have been turned into simultaneous dichotomies, the particularistic alongside the universal, the socially loaded gift alongside impersonal exchange.

This book brings all of this work together as never before, more comprehensively and grounded in the most thorough ethnography. I want to say something about each of these achievements, the bringing together of previous discussions and theories and the grounding of them in ethnography.

Li shang wanglai is a phrase that combines practice and principle. It is what others have discussed as Confucianism. But it is the summation of what is practiced in daily life and without the leadership of an elite intelligentsia. With this phrase Chang Xiangqun has brought together what had been separately discussed: the social philosophy of bao (asymmetrical reciprocity), the central importance of mianzi and lian (face), the moral economy of renqing (human relationships of fellow-feeling), the art of making guanxiwang (social networks), and much else. She shows how they work together in what might be called a discursive constellation. Using sociological and anthropological theorisations of reciprocal relations in China and Japan, she creates a framework of four dimensions, namely, principled calculation, rational, human-feeling, moral, and religious, and four kinds of relationships, namely, instrumental, expressive, negative and generous. This looks at first like a typology. But it is much more, because she shows how one kind of relationship can turn into another and how more than one type of principle can be in use at the same time in the same relationship. Indeed, taking up the classical schema of reciprocal and impersonal relations produced by Marshall Sahlins, Chang Xiangqun extends it and gives it life by showing how such a schema can work dynamically, as process rather than as map, as the way social distance and familiarity are created rather than acting as a fixed and determining structure.

This brings me to the ethnographic grounding of the schema. What brings it to life, and what shows how it is a dynamic process, are the ways people conduct their relationships. Chang Xiangqun has produced the most detailed ethnography of the same village and area where Fei Xiaotong did his fieldwork for his doctorate in 1936. From her initial fieldwork in 1996 until the present day, she has made and maintained contact with the village residents. From this intense and continuous relationship with them, she can show how they are their own intelligentsia, how they think about and enjoy the making, changing and unmaking of interpersonal relationships. At the same time, she shows not just what are the customary, learned rules of what to bring as a gift to whom on different occasions, but also how villagers adapt and change customary rules to deal with new situations and a changing economy. They enjoy the making of distinctions, which accord with those of the framework she has used to present them. They enjoy the creativity demanded of them in changing situations. This enjoyment and the dynamics of the making of interpersonal relationships are the two main contributions Chang Xiangqun has made to the ethnography of reciprocity.

I want to make one further recommendation of this book to its reader. The ethnography is about village life in contemporary China, a very dynamic and changing social setting. Chang Xiangqun embraces the facts of change, in particular the changing local political economy. During the years of her fieldwork, the village and township government has been changed a number of times and she describes how these changes can be understood in terms of the personalisation and moralisation of the relationships between villagers and their government. This is a micro-history of a village in what has become a very prosperous part of China and one which has its own peculiar culture, with, for instance, a greater stress on little sisterhoods and brotherhoods than in other parts of China. Nevertheless, this study illuminates, as a case study, what must be happening though with quite different customary practices and in different economic conditions, in other regions of China. The rapid development of Chinese market economics has not diminished the importance in China of interpersonal relationships; while the extension of the moral economy of interpersonal relationships to relationships with government is not only worked out locally, but everywhere.

Professor Stephan Feuchtwang
Department of Anthropology
London School of Economics and Political sciences
26/02/2008

Comments from scholars

Chinese scholars

The great achievements in socio-economic development over the past three decades have attracted worldwide attention to China. Questions about China's development model are becoming a very popular topic with different social scientific disciplines in the age of globalization. Chang Xiangqun's book Guanxi vs Li shang wanglai? can be seen as a "virtual icon" in which the so-called "China model" is embedded. This book is an excellent outcome based on the author's transdisciplinary training in both China and the West, long term in-depth empirical studies on contemporary China. It is the first Chinese scholar's book, in nearly 100 years, to systematically challenge important Western social anthropological theories of social exchange and reciprocity. --- Professor Deng Zhenglai, Dean of National Institute of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Fudan University; Editor of Chinese Social Science Quarterly (Chinese); Editor of Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences (English)

The "lishang-wanglai model" sets an example as an important theoretical paradigm for the sociology of China. It can be used as a key to understand and interpret Chinese society and the Chinese people. This book demonstrates Chang Xiangqun's indomitable will in searching for truth and her solid theoretical background. Based on in-depth empirical studies and nearly two decades of experience living overseas Chang Xiangqun presents us with another high quality book which can go down in history, like her Marxist Sociology (in Chinese, 1992). The publication of Guanxi vs Lishang-wnaglai? in both Chinese and English versions, during the period of deepening reform of the Chinese cultural system, marks the transition of "Made in China" from material to cultural, specifically as regards forthcoming developments in social science. --- Professor Li Qiang, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science, Tsinghua University; Vice President of Chinese Sociological Association (CSA)

I have known Chang Xiangqun, a scholar of the greatest determination, since the early 1990s. Guanxi vs lishang-wanglai? pioneers in joining the classical theory of reciprocity to social networks and social creativity in the anthropological field. Based on in-depth empirical re-studying of previous studies and rethinking of reciprocity this excellent study has the characteristic of "critically inheriting" previous studies. The author demonstrates the approach to her subject of significant social scientific research by constant questioning in both fieldwork methods and theories. This book is an inspiration to Chinese scholars and exercises a valuable influence on the international social science domain. Using traditional native Chinese concepts combined with theoretical resources from general knowledge, the author's approach on "guanxi" goes beyond studies of relationships in two dimensions, and provides a significant attempt at exploring this topic in a historical perspective with dynamic approach. --- Professor Wang Mingming, Peking University; Distinguished Professor of The Central University for Nationalities; Editor of Chinese Review of Anthropology

Western scholars

This book brings all of this work of the particularistic alongside the universal, the socially loaded gift alongside impersonal exchange together as never before, more comprehensively and grounded in the most thorough ethnography.  Taking up the classical schema of reciprocal and impersonal relations produced by Marshall Sahlins, Chang Xiangqun extends it and gives it life by showing how such a schema can work dynamically. This enjoyment and the dynamics of the making of interpersonal relationships are the two main contributions Chang Xiangqun has made to the ethnography of reciprocity ---- selected from the Preface by Professor Stephan Feuchtwang, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political sciences (LSE), UK

Based on extensive empirical research, Chang Xiangqun's book, Guanxi vs Li shang wanglai? - Reciprocity, Social Support Networks and Social Creativity in a Chinese village, provides an invaluable overview of social relationships in the Chinese countryside, and puts forward an ambitious theoretical framework for thinking about them. Both scholars and students will benefit greatly from it ---- Professor Charles Stafford, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) , UK

Chang Xiangqun has provided a wonderful in depth analysis of rural central Chinese social relationships. Building upon the pioneering work of Fei Xiaotong, her study of Kaixiangong retains a strong historical feel as it probes matters of the human heart. Her investigation of Chinese emotional and ethical considerations provides a rich informed and vibrant chronicle ordinary village life. An excellent ethnographic account. This is how anthropology should be ---- Professor William Jankowiak, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) , USA

This book is a major contribution to one of the most dynamic research literatures in Chinese sociology and anthropology. Building on the many-sided significance of a phrase (li shang wanglai) used both in scholarly and everyday discourse, Chang Xiangqun develops a sophisticated framework for the analysis of interpersonal relationships in village China, bringing together phenomena often discussed separately as face, reciprocity or guanxi. She uses this framework to interpret her thorough and sensitive ethnographic accounts of social life in the area studied from the 1930s by Fei Xiaotong, emphasising both continuities and changes over time. This book will be vital reading for all sociologists who aim to understand the complexities of social relationships in this rapidly changing society ---- Dr Norman Stockman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen; Honorary Secretary of the British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) , UK

Contents

Preface                                                 Stephan Feuchtwang

Introduction
1. The ESRC project on social support
2. The villagers' usage of li shang wanglai
3. Research methods and scope
4. Researcher's multifaceted position
5. Writing methods and structure of the book

PART I VILLAGE PORTRAITURE
Chapter 1. Economic, administrative and informal systems
1.1. Economic development and villagers' standard of living
1.2. Changes of administrative system
1.3. Kinship system
1.4. Religious practices
1.5. Relationships between villagers and the state
Chapter 2. Local customs (I)
2.1. Birth and growing up
2.2. Establishing the marriage relationship
2.3. House construction events
Chapter 3. Local customs (II)
3.1. Family division and elderly care
3.2. Funeral ceremony and postfuneral rituals
3.3. Annual cycle events
3.4. Emergency events

PART II THE PRACTICE OF 'LISHANG-WANGLAI'
Chapter 4. Generous wanglai
4.1. A case study of horizontal and vertical wanglai
4.2. Horizontal wanglai in annual life cycle events
4.3. Vertical wanglai in villagers' festivals and religious life
Chapter 5. Expressive wanglai in life cycle events (I)
5.1. Birth and growing up
5.2. Establishing a marriage relationship
5.3. House construction
Chapter 6. Expressive wanglai in life cycle events (II)
6.1. Family division
6.2. Elderly care
6.3. Funeral ceremony and postfuneral rituals
Chapter 7. Expressive wanglai in annual cycle and emergency events
7.1. Annual cycle events
7.2. Emergency: Natural and man-made disasters
7.3. Emergency: Illness and injury
Chapter 8. Instrumental and negative wanglai
8.1. Instrumental wanglai: top down and bottom up
8.2. Negative wanglai: vertical and horizontal wanglai

PART III A MODEL OF 'LISHANG-WANGLAI '
Chapter 9. Theoretical approaches and exploration of 'lishang-wanglai'
9.1. Sahlin's reciprocity and Polanyi's redistribution
9.2. Social support networks and 'lishang-wanglai networks'
9.3. Social creativity as motivation behind 'lishang-wanglai'
Chapter 10. Review of related Chinese notions
10.1. Mianzi (mien-tzu)
10.2. Chaxugeju
10.3. Yuan and fu
10.4. Bao (pao)
10.5. Huhui
10.6. Guanxi (kuan-hsi)
10.7. Renqing (jen-ch'ing) and ganqing (kan-ch'ing)
10.8. Yang and laiwang
Chapter 11. 'Lishang-wanglai' model
11.1. Li shang wanglai and 'lishang-wanglai'
11.2. Justification of lishang
11.3. Lishang criteria
11.4. Clarification of wanglai
11.5. Wanglai typology
11.6. Methodological implications of 'Lishang-wanglai'
Chapter 12. Tests and applications of the 'lishang-wanglai' model
12.1. Gaining access and getting to know informants
12.2. 'Lishang-wanglai'and social creativity
12.3. A case study of 'lishang-wanglai' beyond the village
Conclusion
1. 'Lishang-wanglai' and issues of state and gender
2. 'Lishang-wanglai' unified principle and typology of reciprocity
3. 'Lishang-wanglai' combines a static model and dynamic networks
4. 'Lishang-wanglai'’s motivation is social creativity
5. Can 'lishang-wanglai' be a general analytic concept?

Appendix I Comments from scholars
Appendix II List of maps, tables, figures and photos
Appendix III Character list
Bibliography
Postscript