Insider Boundary Archives - understand-culture

Becoming One of Us

In 1999, Yang Yiyan published a case study of how trust is built, titled Zijiren (自己人), “One of Us,” in the journal Sociological Studies (社会学研究). Yang argued that Chinese people include others within the boundary of their own self, the family, and that this forms a boundary of trust.

Yang wrote that the boundary can move. “Through interaction, an outsider can be accepted as one of us.” Turning an outsider into one of us generally means a process “from strangeness or surface contact to intimacy, trust and a sense of obligation, or deep interaction.”

Differential Leadership

The Taiwanese scholar Cheng Bor-Shiuan was among the first to apply Fei Xiaotong’s differential mode of association to Chinese organizations. He proposed the concept of chaxu shi lingdao (差序式领导), differential leadership. In a study published in 1995, he named a typical sign of favoritism among Chinese leaders. They are “generous and understanding toward insiders, strict and demanding toward outsiders.”

A 2018 review in the journal Foreign Economics and Management sums up the concept. Such a leader divides subordinates into “insiders” and “outsiders” by how close the relationship is, how loyal they are and how capable they are.

Xiang Bo Rides by Night

Before the banquet at Hongmen, Xiang Yu planned to attack his rival Liu Bang. Xiang Bo, Xiang Yu’s uncle, “had long been on good terms” with Zhang Liang, who was serving Liu Bang. Xiang Bo “rode by night to Liu Bang’s camp, privately saw Zhang Liang and told him everything.” He urged his friend to come away with him and not die along with Liu Bang. (Records of the Grand Historian)

Zhang Liang took the news to Liu Bang. When Liu Bang asked how he knew Xiang Bo, Zhang Liang explained: “In the Qin days he was my companion. Xiang Bo killed a man, and I saved his life.”

Song Jiang’s Warning

In chapter 18 of the Water Margin, in its 100-chapter version, the county clerk Song Jiang learns that his friend Chao Gai is to be arrested. He tells the arresting officer that this official business “must not be leaked lightly to anyone.” Then he leaves the officer waiting in a teahouse and gallops off to warn Chao Gai. “He and I are bound heart and belly,” Chao Gai tells the others. “He is my sworn brother.”

In chapter 20, Chao Gai, now the leader at Liangshan, sends Liu Tang with a letter and a hundred taels of gold, to thank Song Jiang for saving their lives. Song Jiang keeps the letter and takes one bar of the gold.

Sayings on Candor

逢人且说三分话，未可全抛一片心 When meeting people, say only three tenths of what is on the mind. Do not throw out the whole heart. (Words to Broaden Wisdom, a collection of old sayings)

酒逢知己千杯少，话不投机半句多 With a close friend, a thousand cups of wine are too few. When the talk does not suit, half a sentence is too many.

Trusting Strangers

In January 2013, the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released its Blue Book of Social Mentality. Its survey of city residents found that fewer than half believed that most people in society can be trusted. Only 20 to 30 percent trusted strangers. More than 70 percent said they did not dare to trust strangers.

Ripples on the Water

In 1947, the sociologist Fei Xiaotong published a series of essays on rural society, collected in 1948 as Rural China (乡土中国). In them he named the pattern of Chinese social relations chaxu geju (差序格局), the differential mode of association.

“Our pattern,” he wrote, is like “the ripples that spread out in circles when a stone is thrown onto the water. Each person is the center of the circles pushed out by his own social influence.”

A Father Conceals for His Son

The Duke of She told Confucius: “In my village there is an upright man. When his father stole a sheep, he testified against him.” Confucius replied: “The upright in my village are different. A father conceals for his son, and a son conceals for his father. Uprightness lies in this.” (Analects 13.18)

Later law reflected the same principle. The Tang Code did not punish members of the same household and close relatives who concealed one another’s crimes.

Our Own People

自己人 Our own people, those close to us.

胳膊肘往外拐 The elbow bends outward. Said of someone who helps outsiders against their own people.

肥水不流外人田 Rich water does not flow into an outsider’s field. Keep the good things within the family.

Killing the Familiar

In 2018, Chinese media reported on dashuju shashu (大数据杀熟), “big-data killing of the familiar.” Some defined it as internet companies using their customer data to show existing customers higher prices than new customers for the same product or service.

The name expresses the expectation that a familiar customer deserves better treatment.