The purpose of this research paper is to study how trustworthiness develops depending on types of relationships within different Chinese organizations. We generate and test six hypotheses concerning the process of building a sense of trustworthiness through contrasting three Western concepts associated with trust—strongversus weak ties，social exchange，and social similarity，roughly equivalent to the Chinese concepts of “lun”，“pao” and “tung”. We test these hypotheses at three different research sites in Mainland China and Taiwan-each case study has a different cultural and organizational structure providing a stronger case for common findings. First，we find strong evidence consistent with Yamagishi’s emancipation theory of trust suggesting that Chinese，like Japanese，have a poorly developed sense of trust. Second，trustworthiness based on similarity （sex and job tenure） doesn’t appear to be a factor among Mainland Chinese or Taiwanese coworkers. Third，“lun” （simulated familial relations） appears to create assurance rather than trust which is also consistent with Yamagishi’s work. But we also find surprisingly large variation in indicators of trustworthiness across our three Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese case organizations which is at odds with the view of “lun” as a monolithic ethical principle affecting all Chinese organizations.