In traditional Chinese culture, maintaining social harmony (和谐, héxié) is paramount. Resolving disputes through mediation, personal connections (关系, guānxi), or mutual compromise was always the preferred method. To bring a matter to court, or 打官司 (dǎ guānsi), was seen as a last resort and a sign that relationships had completely failed. It was considered confrontational, expensive, and a way to lose “face” (面子, miànzi) for all parties involved, regardless of the outcome. This contrasts sharply with a more litigious culture, like that of the United States, where filing a lawsuit is often viewed as a standard and impersonal procedure for asserting one's rights. The English word “lawsuit” is a neutral, procedural term. 官司 (guānsi), on the other hand, is emotionally and culturally loaded. It carries the implicit weight of “a serious problem with the authorities,” making it a word that people hope to never have to use to describe their own lives. While modern China has a rapidly developing legal system and people are more willing to go to court, this underlying cultural aversion to open, formal conflict still influences the term's negative connotation.
官司 (guānsi) is almost always used in a negative context. It's not a goal; it's a problem to be solved or, preferably, avoided.