Ritualized relational work: secret banquets and rural cadres in China
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...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Critical Asian studies
Year: 2024, Volume: 56, Issue: 2, Pages: 297-314 |
| Further subjects: | B
Zhong guo gong chan dang
B Corruption B Social behavior B Political behavior B Cadre (military) B China B Clientilism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | 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 anticorruption campaign.(Crit Asian Stud/GIGA) |
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| ISSN: | 1472-6033 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Critical Asian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2024.2308509 |
