Case studies of urban and rural Mainland Chinese were used to determine classifications of guanxi (social relations) in the Chinese cultural and social context. Analysis revealed that when Chinese distinguish Us from Them, they use a psychological classification schema that contains two main dimensions: ascribed and interactive. The contrast defining these two dimensions of guanxi is zijiren/wairen (one of us/not one of us, or insider/outsider). Differences were found between urban and rural respondents due to the discrepancy in social mobility. With lower social mobility, rural respondents reported a strong bond of kinship identity and the feeling of closeness, interpersonal trust, and responsibility for one another. The kinship system played a key role in judging interpersonal distance. The distinction between family members and strangers became symbolic of the insider/outsider dimension. Intimate relationships were equated with kinship. For urban respondents, the kinship system was only a foundation upon which interpersonal relationships were developed. The feeling of closeness, interpersonal trust, and responsibility for one another mainly focused on interpersonal attraction, inducing a variant of the insider/outsider distinction: bosom buddy/not bosom buddy. Three theories of guanxi categorization were discussed. The family member/not family member schema and the insider/outsider schema were formed under conditions where the ascription and interaction dimensions could not be sufficiently differentiated. When Chinese express their personal characteristics, they do so either through kinship identity or another social identity like kinship.