From 1745, according to Chinese and English accounts, every foreign ship that came to trade at Guangzhou needed a baoshang, a security merchant, from among the licensed hong merchants. He was fully responsible for the foreign merchants’ duties and conduct. If foreigners left taxes unpaid, the hong merchants had to pay them.
In 1754, the hong merchants were made jointly liable for one another, without limit.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
引荐 To lead in and recommend. To recommend someone, or to introduce someone into a group.
中保 A guarantor in the middle. A person who stands between the two sides of a sale or a loan and answers for it.
铺保 A shop guarantee. In the past, a guarantee given for a person in the name of a shop.
不看僧面看佛面 If not for the monk’s face, then for the Buddha’s. To help or forgive someone for the sake of a third person.
Han Xin joined Liu Bang’s army but held only a minor post. He talked often with the chancellor Xiao He, who thought him remarkable. At Nanzheng, dozens of officers deserted, and Han Xin left too. Xiao He rode after him without telling Liu Bang. Back in camp, he told the angry king: “Generals are easy to find. As for Han Xin, he is guoshi wushuang, without equal in the realm.”
Liu Bang offered to make Han Xin a general. Xiao He said that would not keep him. Liu Bang agreed to make him grand general, with an altar and a ceremony on a chosen day. “The generals were all pleased, each thinking he would be grand general. When the appointment came, it was Han Xin, and the whole army was astonished.” (Records of the Grand Historian)
Under Article 5 of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, anyone who applies to join must fill in an application and have two full Party members as sponsors, jieshaoren.
The sponsors must learn about the applicant’s thinking, character, history and work. They explain the Party’s program and constitution to the applicant and make a responsible report to the Party organization.
In a 1988 survey in Tianjin, the sociologist Bian Yanjie found that jobs were obtained through strong ties more often than through weak ties. Job seekers often reached their helpers through an intermediary to whom both sides had strong ties, and those who used such indirect ties got better jobs. He published the study in 1997 in the American Sociological Review as “Bringing Strong Ties Back In.”
中间人 A person in the middle. Someone who introduces, mediates or witnesses between two sides.
和事佬 A peacemaker. Someone who settles quarrels.
说和 To talk two sides into making peace. The word appears in Dream of the Red Chamber.
托人 To entrust a matter to another person. To ask someone to act on one’s behalf.