This volume assesses the evolving role of guanxi (social networks) in China's transforming society.

An introduction to the study of guanxi Thomas Gold, Doug Guthrie and David Wank; 1. Practices of guanxi production and practices of ganqing suppression Andrew Kipnis; 2. Information asymmetries and the problems of perception: the significance of structural position in assessing the importance of guanxi Doug Guthrie; 3. Beyond dyad social exchange: guanxi and third party effects Lin Yimin; 4. Guanxi in business groups: social ties and the formation of economic relations Lisa Keister; 5. The significance of the declining significance of guanxi: how networks change in China's market economy David Wank; 6. Institutional holes and job mobility processes: guanxi mechanisms in China's emergent labor markets Yanjie Bian; 7. Youth job searches in urban China: the use of social connections in a changing labor market Amy Hanser; 8. Face, norms, and instrumentality Scott Wilson; 9. Guanxi and the PRC legal system: from contradiction to complementarity Pitman Potter; 10. 'Idle talk': neighborhood gossip as a medium of social communication in reform era Shanghai James Farrer; Final insights: network analysis and the study of guanxi Barry Wellman, Wenhong Chen and Weizhen Dong.