Hi John, thank you for your requests regarding my opinion on some of the topics you've mentioned. I will try to be brief but to the point.

However, I am actually referring more to Chinese staff and 拍马屁. Such foreigners may try, but are ultimately not so skilled as the Chinese when it comes to this. Maybe Dragonized, you could do a far better job of trying to explain this as your Chinese level and understanding of the culture is probably far higher than mine.

If you can email me when you have a chance, I would like to send you a book called Real Time Relationships, it is a rather interesting read and gives a good in depth explanation between the dynamics of the human mind playing the master/slave role. But the inspiration I drew from that book was that the basic idea of pai ma pi could be explained in short manner as someone who willingly role plays the role of the slave but is really trying to also control the person whom they're sucking up to (therefore also taking up responsibilities of a "master" while not being in the role of the actual master) so that they can actually achieve an ends while using their "masters" as a means.

I personally think that the concept of 拍马屁 is a far more complicated thing than the traditional Western office snitch, back-stabber or whatever. It can be a form of behaviour that takes place amongst all employees (unfortunately, I think that everybody has to do it in China to an extent because bills have to be paid), but certain ones do it better than others. I also know of some more modern Chinese managers that can see through this and therefore appreciate a bit more honesty as opposed to the usual false praise from you during a private conversation.

In such a status driven society as China, in fact it probably is the Vice that drives all other vices including all false virtues which permeate the society. This kind of behavior is actively even systematically encouraged starting when the child is very young. One can say that telling a child to "ting hua" without giving reasonable explanations cuts a person's mind off from actually developing solutions to the questions they have on why things are the way they are. These types of barriers end up making the individual vulnerable to taking the easy way out by giving those that are perceived to have power/influence/status what they want to hear so that the individual can get what they want. In fact the majority of the population even in the present day readily adopts to this paradigm. I back this up with my interactions with local Chinese and I listen to how they talk when they seemingly criticize. Alas, the criticism or independent thinking is false or feigned as they are merely complaining about something in society they want to do nothing about and actively enable. This voluntary manipulation on their part could not bode worse for those who actually want things for the better because sifting through such a large diaspora of dishonesty is truly a daunting experience.

By observing the local employees from a safe distance, one can quickly learn who is really sucking up to their boss for the sake of job security and potential promotions. You can also find out who didn't really get their job based upon any form of merit and is probably the cousin or other relative of somebody who is powerful (and therefore practically untouchable). Sometimes, when you are in management positions, you can even find that you have to be a little creative to get such disruptive and useless people to leave their token jobs.

Yes, what you state is too true. China is still very much what is called a "Zong Zu She Hui" or "Clan Oriented Society". For example if you were my brother-in-law our "Clan" would be made up of the "Dragonizer's" and "O'Shei"s" and no matter what wrongs anybody from these Two Names commit we will do what we can to cover them up. We will also hold an unapologetic double standard to outsiders from them by expecting fairness, predictability, and efficiency at our quickest whims and wishes. Now, because of popular media the word "clan" may be misunderstood under the guise of what really constitutes Gangs, which dynamically are a totally different group altogether. Clans can certainly behave like Gangs if they were to recruit more names who take an active slice of the pie within their business and if they may engage in criminal activity. The Name oriented Clanmanship way of thinking though is universally prevalent in all of China. I personally know of a boy now grown into a man whose mother badmouthed the father's side of the family whenever she could and her family members tried to get him to change his surname to the mother's side of the family. This kind of in-family fighting may be accepted as very normal in China. "Family" in fact may be considered to be real only on biological terms and not on Voluntary Acquirement of Intimate Relationships towards another non-related individual (i.e. the Husband-Wife grouping).

No matter whether you are on the side of good or evil, I think that all foreigners need to be aware of this concept in China.

Yes, good point. I think many Chinese choosing to be ignorant may still expect foreigners to accept and even take on this type of mindset. For expats, doing so may give you quicker smiles and better chances of being invited to dinner parties but in the end you're still an outsider and always will be no matter what. For good people, realize that you are an island of sorts and you always need to keep your senses perked up so you can retain dignity for yourself. Still a tug of war that will continue for a while probably.