Word.ws English Dictionary

guanxi

Syllables: guan·xi/ˈkwanʃi/

guanxi noun: connections; relationships; one's social or business network.

Noun

guanxi (uncountable)

  1. (China) Connections; relationships; one's social or business network.
    • To open a new business in China you need guanxi.
    • Who would dare to drive around in a [right-hand drive] car that was so obviously stolen and smuggled into the country? The police, of course! And Communisty Party officials. And those with guanxi with the police.1996, James O'Reilly, Sean O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, editors, Travellers' Tales - Hong Kong
    Synonyms:
    blat

Proper noun capitalized: Guanxi

Guanxi

  1. An urban township in Hsinchu County, Taiwan.
    • Visitors who do reach the town, in the hills of Hsinchu County southwest of the island’s capital city, Taipei, will find quiet, rural scenery, unique local food, unusual types of tea and a museum tour they’d be hard pressed to get anywhere else. Guanxi Township is also notable for its predominantly...2019 July 31, Ralph Jennings, “A bridge to the past in Taiwan: Guanxi, quiet retreat of century-old town houses, tea, and Hakka food”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
    • Education and training sessions were implemented after a baboon was shot by a member of the public after escaping from the Leofoo Village theme park in Hsinchu County’s Guanxi Township (關西), he said.
      There has been a focus on training to coordinate local authorities, set up communication channels...2023 November 15, Yang Yuan-ting, Jason Pan, “Official defends efforts to control stray dogs”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 May 2024, Taiwan News, page 3

Examples of guanxi in a sentence

  • By chance he'd happened to be in Hong Kong when Clayton had died, and his guanxi had smoothed out the paperwork that could have delayed things for weeks.1998, Stuart Cohen, Invisible World:
  • It should be noted that the existence of a basis for guanxi does not imply that such an alliance will develop.2000, Yadong Luo, Strategy, Structure, and Performance of MNCs in China:
  • Many foreigners claim to have guanxi with their Chinese counterparts; few actually do.2005, China-Britain Business Council:
  • My inattention to my guanxi in that single moment will take years to repair.2013 November 13, Deb Weidenhamer, “How I Made My Biggest Mistake in China (So Far)”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York...

Synonyms of guanxi

Forms of guanxi

alternative formKuanhsi
alternative formGuansi

Origin of guanxi

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 關係 /关系 (guānxì, “relation, connection”).

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 關西 (Guānxī).

Questions about guanxi

What does guanxi mean?
Guanxi means connections; relationships; one's social or business network.
How do you use guanxi in a sentence?
By chance he'd happened to be in Hong Kong when Clayton had died, and his guanxi had smoothed out the paperwork that could have delayed things for weeks.
What part of speech is guanxi?
Guanxi can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce guanxi?
Guanxi is pronounced /ˈkwanʃi/.

Words near guanxi in the dictionary

  1. Guantanamo
  2. Guantanamo Bay
  3. Guantao
  4. Guantian
  5. Guantánamo
  6. guanxi
  7. Guanyin
  8. guanyl
  9. guanylate
  10. guanylate cyclase
  11. guanylate cyclases

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guanxi (page history and authors); Guanxi (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “guanxi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guanxi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.