Guanxi and Waterskiing

(potp: whoahey..I did it. 5 minutes away from my place in EastCoast this beautiful kind of sport is possible now..)

THE IMPORTANCE OF GUANXI

Wikipedia defines Guanxi as the basic dynamic in personalised networks of influence. It is deeply integrated into Chinese culture and means a 'personal connection between two people in which one is able to prevail upon another to perform a favor or service, or be prevailed upon.'

Guanxi is influencial in so many situations, since a good guanxi to another person means that you belong to a social network which is beneficial to all members. A lack of guanxi will most likely result in the rejection of a favor. On the other side, one will have a access to (but also the obligation to provide) benefits to others in the group.

So what the heck does this have to do with Waterskiing?!

(Thu Zar is ready to go with her kneeboard!)

CABLESKIING

Just one month ago we heard that a big, ugly not too distant hole in the ground (5 minutes away from our place in EastCoast) would be finally turned into Singapores first waterskiing place by the beginning of the year 2006.

One week ago, Thuzar, Leif, Christoph and me had a walk on the beach heading back from our favorite hawker center (Laksa, YUMMY!) shortly after midnight. We saw some light at the supposed starting point of the cableski place and quickly got into chatting with the then present owner (a 28-old nephew of a big local steel producer) and the German (of course, what did you think? :-)) engineers of this sport facility.

(Christoph on the go with waterskis..)

It was interesting to hear that there seemed not to be e detailed Business plan for the site, despite the fact the whole facility (including restaurant) had cost about €500.000. Well, opening such a thing in Singapore is of course different from a place like Germany, where it can only run for at most 4 month a year. Funnily enough, the owner thought the break even will be some time in 3-4 years, but he could not even give us the price of a one-hour-ride. Well, good luck. At least, money seemed not to be the main constraint here.

(Christophs (involuntary?) stop...and yes, he's really ok :-))

ADVANTAGEOUS

Well, being Caucasian and friendly must have helped to get us invited to the free-of-charge testrun on last Sunday! And this is where Guanxi comes into play. By inviting us, we had established a very basic version of Guanxi between him and us. We were free to use the facility as long as our muscles were still supporting us (which was not very long, to be honest ;-))

The interesting thing is that Guanxi is basically extendible and has a transitive character ('The friend of your friend is my friend'). Don't know if it applies to foes though ;-) To put this last thought in other words: We met a nice American couple and could get them in the loop, too...just by mentioning that they were already long-life friends...I certainly know that we did not establish any long-lasting guanxi here, but it was enough to save the day :-)

(me, on a kneeboard..after 3 rounds all power was usually gone and I could only let go. Sooo tiring and exhausting for a beginner..)

NONADVANTAGEOUS

Well, the bloody SORE MUSCLES for the next four days together with a heavy sunburn which let me look like a tomato for 2 days ! No more things to say here..

Maik