“There is an old saying in China that you cannot clap with a single hand, a reference to the fact that getting things done depends more on a web of connections than any other factor.
The importance of connections in China derives from a historical lack of rule by law, impartial judgments and behavior based on universal principles.

In the Confucian concept of the world, virtuous rulers (who were also presumed to be wise and benevolent), including regional and local magistrates did not need to conduct themselves according to precise, immutable laws. Instead, they were expected to make the right decisions based on their own standards of morality and ethics.
But this system led to corruption becoming institutionalized in China, creating a society in which the only thing an individual could depend on was personal connections.

There were, and still are, two kinds of connections in China- direct connections, meaning members of one’s own extended family and other relatives, former classmates, ex-teachers, co-workers and others one has gotten to know personally: and indirect or “associate” connections, referring to people whom your direct contacts now.
Using indirect or associate connections is known as la guanxi 拉关系 or pulling (one’s) connections.
Both direct and indirect connections work in China because the custom has been ritualized and sanctified as the right thing, the moral thing, to do. Anyone who does not respond as expected, loses face, is regarded as immoral or uncivilized, and is no longer trusted or respected.

The effective use of la guanxi is a subtle and sometimes dangerous exercise. It requires that your direct contact have current and precise information about his or her relationship with the person that you want to meet or need something from.
If the relationship is no strong enough-if the social debt owed by the indirect contact to the direct contact is not sufficiently large to warrant a favorable response-the effort may result in some irritation or anger, and fail.

Asking a direct connection to use his or her contacts on your behalf naturally puts that person on the spot. If you misuse or abuse the connection, it could destroy the relationship between the two connections.

Because of the personalized nature of most social and economic relationship in China, making and maintaining connections is an overriding necessity that is pursued with considerable intensity, significantly influencing the behavior of people, including inducing them to lie and to be excessive in their praise of others.”

Lafayette De Mente, Boy©, “The Chinese Have a Word for It”, Passport Books, 2000.