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An obscurepoker gamehas become a must-have skill for Chinese business leaders angling to win financial support from provincial governments seeking to bolster key industries.

Guandan, a four-person game that translates as “throwing eggs” or “throwing bombs,” is an increasingly popular way for businesspeople, bankers and government officials to informally socialize for hours before sitting down at the negotiating table.

“People in the entire financial circle are playing Guandan,” saidHong Hao, chief economist at Grow Investment Group. “I had no choice but to learn.”

The game’s popularity comes at a critical time: With China’s post-pandemic economic rebound slowing and scrutiny increasing on indebted regional governments, provinces near Shanghai such as c and Zhejiang — where Guandan first evolved — still offer financial incentives for investments in strategic industries like chip-making and EV battery production.

But tapping that funding — especially by smaller companies which might be overlooked by banks and investors — can require a networking edge. That’s where skills at the card table can come in handy.

This account of Guandan’s upsurge is based on interviews with business leaders, bankers and commodity traders who focus on deals in the country’s wealthy Yangtze River delta area. Many asked not to be named because the issue of how deals come together — or don’t — is private.

The game is the latest way to tap into or improve one’sguanxi, a term that describes the sometimes exclusionary social circles, influence connections and relationships that help grease the wheels of commerce everywhere. As in other countries, guanxi can pave the way for business deals in China — as well as serve as a source of corruption.

The rise of Guandan isn’t the first time card games have come to the fore in China’s economy. In 2020,China Evergrande Group, the country’s most indebted developer, received critical assistance from property tycoons belonging to the “Big Two Club,” a group named after a card game that the billionaire leaders of Evergrande and some of its key investors enjoyed together.

Played by four people sitting around a square table, likemahjong or bridge, the object of Guandan is to work with your partner to ensure that one of you plays all your cards before either of your opponents do. Play then continues among the remaining participants.

Two full decks are used so that, including four jokers, a total of 108 cards are in play at the start. Red jokers are the highest cards and while some terminology is the same as other versions of poker — you can have a straight flush or a full house — there are “bombs” as well as “tubes” and “plates,” the latter of which might consist of three aces and three two’s. The best bomb a player can show in a trick is four jokers.

Veteran players say success at Guandan requires strong strategic thinking and cooperation. The game’s popularity in banking and financial circles — where players say it serves as a means of sharing information and breaking the ice with colleagues — now appears to be spreading beyond that base.

An analysis of Baidu, the dominant search engine in China, shows peak interest in the game now coming from Beijing, signaling the game’s rising profile in the capital. The largest number of searches are coming from people aged 30-39, according to Baidu’s data.

“It’s a game of strategy and requires patience,” said Nicholas Liu, a Singapore-based steel trader in his 40s who often travels to eastern China and said he’s a fan. “People my age are tired of entertainment like clubbing and prefer a slow but smooth way to have fun.”

It’s popular enough that several well-known financial institutions, includingCitic Securities Co., have launched their ownbespoke card sets. Many restaurants in Jiangsu province now set up a table for the game before their guests arrive, knowing they’ll want to play first and eat later, according to people there who spoke to Bloomberg.

The game’s notoriety comes at a time when China’s $18 trillion economy is facing aconfluence of difficulties, including sluggish consumer spending, a shaky property market and towering local government debt.

Mao’s Forces

Jiangsu and Zhejiang aren’t immune to those forces, but they are among the provinces which have curbed their budget deficits the most. And when it comes to strategic priorities, such as chip manufacturing, they are still offering billions of dollars in financial incentives for companies able to access them.

Card games have a long history in the People’s Republic. Poker games were used as a cover for Communist Party gatherings in major cities beforeMao Zedong’s forces secured power.

Former leaderDeng Xiaopingwas famous for hisenthusiasmabout playing bridge and once held the honorary presidency of the Chinese Bridge Association, but the game didn’t catch on outside official circles.

For companies, the connections made at the Guandan table aren’t a surefire guarantee of fund-raising success, and there’s always a risk that the government’s tolerance for the game could end. PresidentXi Jinping’s anti-corruption efforts have targeted gaming in the past. In 2016, the state’s official news outlet Xinhua published an article titled “How to Curb Corruption at the Card-Game Table,” saying some officials took bribes at mahjong tables.

But for now, Guandan is one of the relatively few legitimate activities that facilitate longer interactions with government officials. And unlike other games targeted in the past by Beijing, supporters say it may stay that way.

“It’s a long game that requires a lot of strategizing,” said Liu, the Singapore-based steel trader. “Usually people won’t use it for gambling. It’s a healthy table game.”