关系与relationship意思基本相同，但当中国人说某人有“关系”时，意思是他有能让他办成某件事的熟人，我想这个“特别的中国文化上的含义”就是这个意思。（说某人有关系时，一般指他能靠这个关系走后门） 希望对你有帮助

I think they mean relationship networks here. Interpersonal relationships in the moment are important resources in China. You need ur relationship networks for getting a job for instance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi

“关系”的基本意思是relationship，比如“他们的关系很不好 Their relationship is bad”。但是由此可以衍生出很多意思。比如说，“没关系 It doesn't mattter”, “关系”在这里的意思就是“matter (verb)”, relationship→have a (significant) relationship with→matter.比如“这关系到他的职业生涯 It's concerned with his career”, “关系”在这里的意思就是“be concern with”，relationship→be related to→be concerned with。总之中文就是这样，每个词都有一个或者几个基本的意思，然后衍生出不同的意思，有的和基本意思很接近，有的却相去甚远。Good luck!

I think it is more appropriate to interprete it as "connections".