This dissertation reports on how graduating seniors from Shenzhen University (szu), an undergraduate institution in the People's Republic of China (prc), find jobs. It focuses on their use of personal relationships and connections (guanxi) in securing employment, and discusses why, when and how this occurs. In the process it contributes to the conceptual understanding of guanxi, a rich and complex phenomenon whose use is influenced by many factors, including economic ones.

The study uses several methods of investigation. Survey data were obtained from questionnaires administered to seniors at the time of graduation in 1993 and 1994. In-depth interviews with several dozen students and alumni supplemented these surveys. The author's employment as an associate professor from 1988 to 1994 permitted participant-observation and afforded considerable access to students, faculty, alumni and administrators.

As part of the modernization of its economy, in the early 1980s the prc started redefining its systems of human resource development. It began moving away from a rigid system characterized by the assignment of jobs to all university graduates towards a more open job market in which the participants--graduates, employers and schools--were all involved in the job securement process. A detailed history of Chinese manpower planning through an examination of four decades of official documents on graduate allocation (biyesheng fenpei) identifies three main weaknesses of the system as perceived by academics and programme administrators. Each of these weaknesses had a corresponding remedy: (1) greater efficiency, it was argued, would be achieved through increased flexibility; (2) each of the participants would become more responsible if made more accountable; (3) improved equity could be gained through fair competition. These concerns were addressed in China's change in human resource policy.

Szu, which was established in 1984, was the first university in China where graduands were allowed to choose their jobs freely. The university was established specifically to provide talent for local employers. The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (sez), in which szu is situated, provided jobs for over 80% of the school's graduates. Since its inception in 1978, Shenzhen has matured into an export-processing zone, from which products manufactured in China are transshipped to Hong Kong, where they are reexported abroad. Most szu graduates are employed in business and banking, with a few using applied science in the workplace. Many work for municipal bureaux.

The study shows that in 1993, social relationships were used more frequently by male than female graduates, by students who were academic underachievers during their college careers, and by those who took jobs in state- run companies and municipal bureaux. Graduates who worked in the banking sector, as well as those who work for foreign-funded companies, did not often rely on guanxi to get jobs. The school's Career Counselling Centre, which functioned actively for only a few years, was obviated when students realized that jobs were easy to find, given the sez's growing economy. At that time (before 1991), guanxi was not needed. As the economy slowed and jobs became more scarce, students began to rely on guanxi.

Social relationships exist in all cultures. This thesis explores who uses them and why, among job-seeking graduates of a university in China. The Chinese experience may be instructive for those who study other cultures, for the phenomenon is not unique to China, just different.