"Do you have any guanxi (relations)?" has become a common question asked of people who are trying to b
uy train tickets during the Spring Festival period. Getting tickets can be as easy as eating pie for people who have guanxi. Some powerful institutes and enterprises are guaranteed tickets-through special channels. Chen Liguo, an employee of a State commission, told his friend, "We never worry about buying tickets, as one of our colleagues has been put in charge of booking tickets." Sun Ran, manager of a Beijing-based travel agency, and who has been in charge of booking tickets for 10 years, commented, "In addition to guanxi, it is also important to have access to information channels, such as the ability to surf the Internet to book tickets, to obtain train tickets... However, most ofthe migrant workers know nothing about that, and only go to the railway stations to buy tickets."
