Naturally, the changes take place in larger cities first (east) and eventually move west. Kunming is moving at record speeds as it is the hub for transportation (rail) and business with other ASEAN countries.

Kunming (Yunnan) is no longer considered the same as Guizhou or Gansu as it was in the past. Another aspect to look at is the subway lines. Kunming is not a big city yet it has subway lines before other larger cities such as Changsha, Hunan.

In time, business will be more uniform (fair) - it already is more fair.

In time the Kunming subway will be finished. In time ;-)

Mobility is a huge factor in eliminating guanxi. When people move to start new careers (not jobs like KFC or construction) they must rely on their abilities (resume/CV) not on their guanxi because they have none in a new city.

10 years ago people were born, raised and died in the town/city of birth - this is no longer the case.

Access to the internet is another factor that is eliminating guanxi because more people now see it for what it really is = bribery - and no longer tolerate it. See the many articles posted on internet from Unsatisfied netizens.

Wang Ba (internet cafe) were a dime a dozen when I first came to China 12 years ago. Now you don't see as many because more people have computers at home or phones.

@Stephen58 if you subscribe to the idea guanxi is all about gift giving or bribery then the answer is clear; guanxi will diminish.

If you subscribe to the cultural nature of guanxi, family/clan/village, classmates, or brotherly friendship, I think not as it is deeply ingrained into the culture.

I don't think Westerners understand the cultural aspect of quanxi. To admit the benefits of guanxi would result in the loss of mianzi.

In the process of servicing my US customers, I created misnzi for my Chinese contacts on the coast. I then benefited from guanxi from those contacts. When I came to live in China and stopped doing business, my usefulness, mianzi creation, declined while my Beijing and Shanghai guanxi persisted. When I moved to Kunming I quickly lost my guanxi as my eastern contacts had about zero guanxi in Kunming.

Chinese generally refer to doing business as 'cooperating.' With a relationship that does not provide mutual benefit in cooperation, business, guanxi fades.

- cultural nature of guanxi, family/clan/village, classmates, or brotherly friendship - Yes this still continues and is alive and well in small towns. However, in the large cities in the east - it is no longer true (fading quickly). People are changing jobs more nowadays so you do not have the longevity that guanxi requires.

I totally agree with the notion that guanxi and mianzi go hand in hand - that is why BOTH are fading simultaneously. Chinese people are learning how to say NO because chinese culture is changing. Old people drink tea while young people drink coffee. More westerners are drinking chinese tea now.

Also agree with the notion of - business as cooperation - however, now there are so many competitors that one competitor can be easily replaced by another and not cherished as they were in the past. Technology and information change so quickly now that businesses have to continually move with the pace or they will become obsolete.

Guanxi is a beast that must be nurtured and fed. As soon as you stop feeding it, it stops serving you as was mentioned by Geezer above. Guanxi is a stationary phenomena that can not survive in the new mobile China. There are some people and businesses that are not mobile and they will continue to rely on guanxi but they quickly become obsolete and do not get passed on to the next generation.

Guanxi = Loyalty. Nowadays, money is king and that is all that matters in business. Easy to find another person because of competition so loyalty has gone out the window.

Interesting discussion. Even after more than 3 years in China, I am not sure that I have a comprehensive understanding of mianzi. As far as I understand it, it is one's assessment of how one appears to others around you. If you feel you appear important and powerful, you feel you have plenty of mianzi. If you feel that you appear unimportant and powerless, you feel you have lost mianzi. Is that an accurate depiction would you say? On guanxi, I find it kind of a sad phenomenom, because it leads one to think that people are only being nice to them because of anticipated favours down the road, not because they just like being nice to people! One organisation trying to change this is 'Jump Out of Your box', based in Hangzhou. You could look them up.

OP: sorry, I haven't really been in Kunming or China long enough to answer your questions with any authority.

I think Geezer highlights an interesting point.

The family guanxi will remain strong and important as it is a deep cultural phenomenon. Some of you may have read Mayfair Yang's Gifts Favours and Banquets. It highlights how 'family' guanxi and practice will remain an important part of Chinese life.
Do you agree that the business guanxi or utility of guanxi in business may be where the change or evolution is taking place.

I have to disagree. As I mentioned earlier, my wife is presently attending many Parenting classes here in Kunming and other large cities that offer/conduct this type of training. The Family dynamic is changing and evolving very quickly right now and will see many changes throughout the next decade.

Again, this is due to western influence. All changes first must take place on an individual level (family) before they can evolve into group level chnages (business). The way of doing business is chnaging as a result of people changing.

In some of the discussions above, terms are being used synonymously and inadvertently creating false impression, leading to false discussion.

I think it is important to make a distinction between graft, and guanxi.
Although the two might be connected sometimes.

If there is no guanxi, there may be a need to bribe people to get things done. This is only one form of corruption.
If there is lots of guanxi, with the right connections, there may be no need to bribe people, but some other form of reciprocity would be expected, or others may worry about consequences for not assisting (two other forms of corruption).

Face, guanxi, and graft can be connected. However, to have a clear discussion, without ambiguity, it would help to keep the terms separate unless needed.

tv.sohu.com/s2015/cjyesdsj/ - Super Nanny videos

Internet has made people aware of some unusual Chinese Phenomena which are the result of the 1 Child policy which recently changed in 2015. Examples such as 421, Little Emperor, Hong Kong Kids, Boomerang Kids and the dramatic increase of kids going to school abroad at earlier ages (before was mostly for university).

All these factors are changing the Family Dynamics of chinese culture on an individual as well as a group level.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenting_styles

This is what they are teaching now and many educators, headmasters and teachers are mandated to attend this type of training.