Website helps netizens make connections [ 2007-06-14 14:20 ]
Guanxi, the Chinese word for those elusive but useful connections that could
lead to personal or business gain, are just a click away thanks to a
Shanghai-based website.
Since its founding in March, Zhike.com has been
seeking out the kind of connections that can help people enroll a child in the
right primary school, get help from the government with business and even meet a
celebrity - for a price.
Several such requests have already been
met.
For example, one netizen offered 1,000 yuan ($130) for a photograph
with Wang Xiaokun, the winner of the talent show My Show. Another netizen who
was allegedly organizing an event with the celebrity said he could
help.
Chen Dufeng, the website's founder, said Zhike.com provides a
platform for people to network and to match their guanxi with those who are in
need. However, the website's front page adds the proviso that it definitely does
not encourage the trading of power for money.
Legal experts said they
doubted that transactions like those offered on the website would lead to
corruption, though some said having connections could be an advantage when
looking for a job.
Officials with the Shanghai industrial and commercial
administrative bureau said they would keep an eye on the website.
Ten of
the 15 requests recently up for bidding on the website were in the category
"looking for friends in government".
Three of them were from people who
wanted to be connected to teachers at either kindergartens or primary schools.
One posted by the user "love5433" said his family had just moved to Shanghai and
that he wanted to get his child into a good kindergarten. The post said finding
the right kindergarten could be difficult, particularly for people from another
province. He offered 1,000 yuan to whoever could help.
A post from the
user "mengfei" was seeking connections at the department responsible for
medicine purchases at a hospital in Shenzhen, saying he wanted sell the hospital
a particular medicine. The post offered 2,000 yuan for an introduction to
someone at the department.
Tang Xiaotian, a legal expert, said he was
wary of efforts to transform connections into a type of social capital that
could be traded.
Lawyers said the website would be held responsible if
its services led to bribery.
Questions:
1. What is a Netizen?
2. What does
it mean that the site provides a "platform for people to
network"?
Answers:
1. A Netizen is a citizen of
the Internet, someone who is a member of the web community.
2. It means
the site provides a forum in which people can meet each other and make
connections.
About the broadcaster:
Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an
undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China
Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University,
where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.
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