Besides， I didn’t like one guy who was quite boorish. Maybe that wasrequired by the role. Anyway， my answers were unsatisfactory to them，and the result goes without saying.” He still revealed a trace of regret32 when mentioning the interview， though it happened years ago.
“And after that？” I asked.
“After that I couldn’t get a job that I wanted. I thought about goingto South America where jobs are readily available， but the pay is solow that you can’t have a decent life. We have to work to live， right？
So I decided to go back to China. Second Visit to BeijingOn his second visit to Beijing， David was once again faced withthe problem of finding a job， but this time he was no longer a strangerin a strange land. Thanks to his previous teaching experience in theprivate school， he had several buddies who could offer him some help.
On the recommendation of a former Chinese colleague from aprivate school， David got a job recording English texts for middleschool listening tests. It was not enthralling but happened to be congruouswith David’s major in sound engineering at college. It was notdemanding， requiring only his mother tongue and voice， but no doubtthis job offered him new prospects. Later on he started recording withfriends. They provided English recording services to the Noah companyfor its handheld dictionaries and to other companies for theirEnglish learning CDs and multimedia products. During this period，David learnt the real meaning of the Chinese word “guanxi” or “socialnetworks” and grasped the importance of guanxi in daily life.
“Tell me how you found out the meaning and importance of theword guanxi.” I was a bit surprised to hear， for the first time， a foreignerwith only middling Chinese pronounce guanxi perfectly. Keenlyinterested， I asked him about his understanding of the Chinese word.
“I heard this word when I first came to China and thought it wascurious. In our country， we rarely resort to guanxi. I came to realizeits importance when I got the first recording job. There were sectionsof dialogues in the English listening tests which took place between aman and a woman， so I had to have a female partner. I found a youngEnglish woman who often did this kind of work for other companiesand even for China Central Television. She was grateful to me for themoney-making opportunity， and in turn recommended me for more recording work. This showed me the importance of guanxi. Why didn’t Ifigure this out earlier？ I was really stupid.” I couldn’t hold back laughing，looking at his young face wearing a kind of “discovering the newworld” expression.
“Actually， you started weaving your real social networks orguanxi in the private school. Without that Chinese teacher， youwouldn’t have been able to get the first recording work and by doingthe recording， you helped the Chinese teacher too. In fact， guanxi isbeneficial to both sides. Look at the Chinese character “ 人” for person，isn’t it like two people supporting each other by leaning againsteach other？ Of course it would be totally different if you misusedguanxi by pulling strings. He nodded in agreement. Requisite business dinners and drinkingbinges are common practice in China， as are the social networks orguanxi that see large numbers of desirable vacancies filled by friendsand family. “In Beijing， perhaps more than any other city， foreignersseem to follow this model.” He wrote an article “Mixing Business withPleasure” for a magazine， in which he fully describes his understandingof guanxi.
“Where is your favorite place to go？” I asked.
“Bars. “For drinks only？ “No. Not for drinks but for meeting new friends. “For guanxi， right？” I seemed to catch on to what he was saying.
“I like to go to the Bookworm in Sanlitun. Every time you go ineverybody simultaneously turns round to look at you. “Why？” At this point， a common scene in American cowboymovies flashes into my mind： A strong， burly guy enters a bar， and allthose inside turn round and look the stranger up and down with suspiciouseyes.
“They want to see if the newcomer is someone they know. If he isthey will call him over to join them. “So that is a pretty good place for social life. You can make newfriends， meet old friends， expand your social circles and rake in morebusiness. “You’re right，” David continued. “People go to different bars34 for different purposes. If I want to see a band， I’ll go to Yu Gong YiShan. “Do you like music？” I asked him.
“Yes， I do. I like to make music with MIDI — Musical InstrumentDigital Interface. When I asked him to show me a piece of his music， he admittedwith an embarrassed smile that he always started off with a bang butended up with a whimper， and hadn’t finished any yet.