Article 13 of the Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Officials, in force since March 3, 2019: “When an individual recommends a candidate for a leading post to the Party organization, he must write the recommendation responsibly and sign it.”
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.
The End of Lü Bu
In early 199, Cao Cao captured the general Lü Bu at Xiapi. Lü Bu had served Ding Yuan and killed him, then served Dong Zhuo, who had sworn to be his father, and killed him too. Bound before Cao Cao, he offered to lead Cao Cao’s cavalry. Cao Cao considered keeping him. Liu Bei, who was present, asked whether Cao Cao had forgotten what happened to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo. Lü Bu was strangled.
The historian Chen Shou judged him “fickle and cunning, looking only to profit.”
Liu Laolao Repays
In chapter 39 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the poor country woman Liu Laolao comes back to the Jia mansion, where she was once given twenty taels of silver. She brings dates, squash and wild greens. “This year we harvested two more shi of grain, and the melons and vegetables did well. These are the first ones picked. We did not dare sell them. We kept the best for the ladies to taste.”
In chapter 119 of the 120-chapter edition, the family has fallen. Wang Xifeng’s daughter Qiaojie is about to be promised to a foreign vassal. Liu Laolao, her godmother, is announced at the back gate. She offers to take the girl to her village and hide her there.
Gift Ledgers
In 1996, the scholar Shang Huipeng described wedding gifts in eastern Henan in the journal Sociological Studies. “Every family holding a wedding also has a detailed account book. It records the names of the givers and the kind and amount of the gifts, so that they can be repaid later.” The ledger, he wrote, “ensures that this savings will not be forgotten.”
Writing about gifts in Dream of the Red Chamber, the scholar Deng Yunxiang described a similar record, the lizhang (礼账). One of its purposes was “for checking when returning gifts. How much the other side sent, and how much to send when the other side has an occasion.”
The Recommender’s Liability
In Wei, Zheng An’ping hid the fugitive Fan Ju under a new name. When the Qin envoy Wang Ji asked whether Wei had a worthy man to take west, Zheng An’ping brought Fan Ju to him at night. Wang Ji carried Fan Ju into Qin, where he rose to chief minister. At Fan Ju’s urging, the king made Wang Ji governor of Hedong and also took on Zheng An’ping, as a general.
Later, Zheng An’ping was surrounded by Zhao and surrendered with 20,000 men. Fan Ju sat on straw and asked to be punished. The Records of the Grand Historian explains: “Under the law of Qin, when a man recommends someone and the one recommended proves bad, each is punished for that crime.” Fan Ju’s crime called for the seizure of three sets of his kin.
King Zhaoxiang, afraid of hurting his chief minister’s feelings, ordered that anyone who spoke of Zheng An’ping would be punished for the same crime.
Lin Ruhai’s Letter
In chapter 3 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the dismissed official Jia Yucun learns that former officials may be reappointed. On the advice of a friend, he asks Lin Ruhai to approach Lin’s brother-in-law Jia Zheng in the capital. Lin Ruhai says that he has not yet repaid Jia Yucun’s kindness in teaching his daughter. “I have written a letter of recommendation and asked my brother-in-law to do everything to help.”
In the capital, Jia Yucun presents his card at the Jia mansion. Jia Zheng has read the letter and receives him at once. Because the request comes from his brother-in-law, he treats Jia Yucun with special favor. Jia Yucun is restored to office, and within two months he fills a vacancy at the prefecture of Yingtian in Jinling.
The Sponsor’s Liability
Under Article 10 of China’s Securities Law, as revised in 2019, a company that offers shares to the public through underwriters must engage a securities firm as its baojianren (保荐人), its sponsor. The word joins bao, to guarantee, and jian, to recommend. The sponsor must carefully check the issuer’s application documents and disclosures “and supervise the issuer’s proper operation.”
Article 182 sets the penalty for a sponsor letter with false records, misleading statements or major omissions. The sponsor is warned, its business income is confiscated, and it is fined one to ten times that income. The sponsor system took effect on February 1, 2004.
If Rich, Do Not Forget
As a young man, Chen She worked in the fields as a hired laborer. One day he stopped work on a ridge and said to his fellows: “If one of us becomes rich and noble, let us not forget each other.” (苟富贵，无相忘) One of them laughed. Later he rose against the Qin and became a king, ruling at Chen.
An old companion from the fields heard of it and came to the palace gate. Chen She took him in. The visitor talked freely about the king’s old life. Someone told the king: “This guest is foolish and ignorant and talks wildly. He lowers your dignity.” Chen She had him beheaded. “All the king’s old friends left of their own accord, and from then on no one was close to him.” (Records of the Grand Historian)