A THEORETICAL APPROACH OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN CHINA.

Guanxi (favor and reciprocity) is known to be an important feature of Chinese society. While there are numerous important studies of this topic, the present paper examines guanxi linked to social capital, in order to illustrate the similarities and differences between these two concepts and how Chinese guanxi varies from Western conceptions on social networking. As such, there are three steps to be followed: to describe the Confucian root of the social phenomenon; to show the main types of guanxi: and to depict the similarities and differences between guanxi and social networking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]