Notes » December 2007

Let's Talk About Face, Baby

"You make me lost my face!"

It's a classic Hong Kong film subtitle, but what does it really mean? One of the best essays on the subject, written by Sarah Rosenberg, begins with a basic definition:

Face is a multi-faceted term, and its meaning is inextricably linked with culture and other terms such as honor and its opposite, humiliation. Saving face or giving face has different levels of importance, depending on the culture or society with which one is dealing. Perhaps the most familiar term to many is "saving face," which we understand simply to mean not being disrespectful to others in public, or taking preventive actions so that we will not appear to lose face in the eyes of others.

A simpler definition describes face as "two separate but related concepts in Chinese social relations", or lian and mianzi:

Lian is the confidence of society in a person's moral character, while mianzi represents social perceptions of a person's prestige. For a person to maintain face is important with Chinese social relations because face translates into power and influence and affects goodwill. A loss of lian would result in a loss of trust within a social network, while a loss of mianzi would likely result in a loss of authority.

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Coming from what Rosenberg calls a "low-context" society, I admit that I've struggled with face during my time here. Getting things done (problem-solving) is still more important to me than following every rule to a T; encountering intransigent bureaucracy when the solution is obvious and simple is frustrating to the extreme, and face is behind much of it.

By nature I tend to avoid conflict, but I also have a low threshold for BS; let's just say patience is not my strong suit. While most of the time I'm able to resolve issues without behaving like some Westerners here do (loud and obnoxious), I do make the occasional slip. I almost always regret it after the fact; muddying the water rarely helps.

Still, I find it difficult to conduct my life with face at the top of my mind. Looking at Rosenberg's list of "ways in which one can lose face" helps; perhaps I should print it and tuck it my wallet for easy reference.

Because when I lose my temper, it's me who "make me lost my face".

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