Although it still remains largely unsettled, the topic of “guanxi” seems to have slipped from the radar screens of sociologists, anthropologists as well as of China scholars in general. In sharp contrast and as a matter of real life experience, “guanxi” is alive and kicking as it were, i.e. a far from outdated phenomenon. The term of “guanxi” comes up with strikingly frequent regularity in every day social conversations, especially those suggesting corrupt behaviour. Therefore, it would seem imperative rather than meaningless or out-dated to re-examine existing “guanxi”- studies, especially the analytical approaches they have taken.

Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng served 51 months in prison because of his efforts to defend women against forced sterilization by the government. But since completing his prison sentence, he has been imprisoned in his home and abused by police in the town of Linyi in China’s Shandong province for more than a year now. What’s new is that despite strict censorship, the plight of Mr. Chen and his family is attracting attention within China, and sympathizers are traveling from around the country to visit him. They are turned away by plain-clothes police, often violently.

The seventeenth annual Timothy Gelatt Dialogue on the Rule of Law in Asia will be held Monday November 7, 2011, from 2:00-6:30 pm in the Greenberg Lounge of NYU School of Law’s Vanderbilt Hall. This year’s Dialogue will celebrate not only the contributions of the late Tim Gelatt but also the 100th anniversary of China’s efforts to establish a modern legal system since the collapse of the Manchu Dynasty.