Cultural neglect at the Jing Jiang Hotel

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publisher

Palgrave MacMillan

Place of Publication

United Kingdom

Editor(s)

Zhang, Y. and Zhou, Y.

School

School of Business and Law

RAS ID

19585

Comments

Grainger, S. (2015). Cultural neglect at the Jing Jiang Hotel. In Zhang, Y. & Zhou, Y. (Eds). The source of innovation in China: Highly innovative systems (pp. 103-115). United Kingdom: Palgrave MacMillan.

Abstract

The Jing Jiang Hotel (JJH) was a Russian built four-star hotel operating as a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in Chongqing, deep in western China. Originally constructed in the early 1960s, it enjoyed a colorful history over many years and pre market-economy reputation as the premium guesthouse in the region. Throughout Chairman Mao and Deng Xiao Peng's reigns, the hotel had been staffed by employees who were related to the hotel managers or by those who had guanxi with the JJH directors or local senior government officials. Sometimes new employees gained transfers in from other SOEs and government departments primarily on the strength of their guanxi or connections. The hotel was then the best in the region and; having secured employment, new JJH employees felt very proud to have gained a position there. The status of those with a position at the hotel was reflected in the feeling amongst the community that "if you worked at the JJH you were admired." Because the hotel was located in Chongqing in western China, far from the central government, the onset and influence of the Chinese market economy was slow in arriving, and then had a lagging effect on business in this inland area. As the coastal regions of China were exposed to intense export pressure as well as the influx of foreign influences, the changes occurring in cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were much greater and gained momentum much faster than inland cities.

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