i was told by a guy from ex-Czechoslovakia that he could tell a joke from his place to a person from China - it would still seem funny to both of them because of the shared cultural norms.

The funny thing is that all communist countries used to be very bureaucratic; however Max Weber says that there is a blessing in bureaucracy - it is supposed to be impersonal, so in theory it should be objective and be able to ignore personal biases/preferences, provided that you just stick to the procedures. Now Guanxi seems to take the better of that theory.

True. We even had a different concepts of travel. Trips to Socialist block friends were valuable; you'd have a chance to buy some deficit things yet you knew it's not really abroad. Tours to "Capitalist countries" (i.e. rest of the world, ranging from the USA to Bangladesh) however were like oral sex to a Catholic priest: rare chance to see sinister but attractive world, and raise your social status among the peers for rest of your life.

> Max Weber says that there is a blessing of bureaucracy - it is supposed to be impersonal, so in theory it should be objective and just ignore personal biases/preferences provided that you stick to the procedures.

Oddly enough it was bureaucracy that was cementing life order in socialist bloc in identical way, and Guanxi/personal corruption is a manifestation of it. This really stems as consequence of implementation of Marxist tenets and I maintain is deterministic and unavoidable. It seems many can't really comprehend how big a footprint Communist effort leaves after its gone. Historic and cultural continuity is typically destroyed or at least mauled. All ex-communist countries have shared experience in the same way all rape victims regardless background have it.