How face dictates relations
Eating out at Chinese restaurants in China is generally an easygoing process. The atmosphere is always lively and sharing dishes around the table evokes interaction among all diners. The one major speed bump, however, is when the check arrives. Rather than suspiciously eyeing fellow diners to see if anyone will boldly offer to take the bill, quite the opposite situation arises here. Every person at the table not only offers to pay the bill, but oftentimes aggressively fights to be the one who pays for the whole meal in full. To not act in this way is to deeply lose face.
Situations like this are examples of how the notion of face (mìanzi 面子) dictates how people in Asia act. Unlike most unwritten societal rules in the west, which can be ignored with only minor consequences, losing face is such a grave issue that Chinese people take particular care to make sure they never cause anyone to lose face. It is so important, in fact, that the issue of face certainly affects the way China conducts both internal and external political relations. Giving a concise definition of face is not only essentially impossible, but also would not give a holistic understanding of the term. Instead, face is best described through examples.
Take business ventures, for example, since they are rather common. If a meeting is conducted over dinner, certain rules are always at play, most notable pertaining to drinking. These meetings are usually conducted over a few bottles of Chinese hard liquor which must be drank straight. Each time one person at the table drinks, everyone else at the table must also drink. To refuse drinking after already starting is to make the rest of the table lose face, so refusal is essentially impossible. A popular business tactic when meeting with other companies, therefore, is for one company to bring a heavy drinker who will lead the table in rapid rounds of liquor until the other members of the meeting are too incapacitated to properly negotiate.
In the workplace setting too, face is extremely important, a topic which western employers oftentimes are unaware of when hiring Chinese employees. One of the quickest ways to make a Chinese employee lose face is through public criticism of their work. Criticism is oftentimes associated with shaming someone, making it a largely avoided action in Asian culture. If the only feedback for someone is negative, that feedback is oftentimes withheld.
Applying face to world politics makes for even more uncomfortable situations. Take for example a meeting between US President Bill Clinton and Chinese Official Zhu Rongji in 1999. In a typical manner of increasing face, Zhu offered a deal allowing more free trade between the countries. Clinton, however, rejected the deal since it did not meet demands of US businesses, a move stripping Zhu of his face. The ramifications of this event for Zhu were quite large on the domestic front, where he was ruthlessly shamed by his government for losing face.
Just as a Chinese employer may shy away from giving negative criticism, Chinese politicians will also deflect uncomfortable questions. Were a Chinese official to be asked an uncomfortable question about worker’s rights, for example, the question will likely float by unaddressed since the answer would bring shame to the country.
In my day to day interactions with Chinese people, face is typically on my mind. I should wonder if someone is offering to buy me water because they want to or because they just feel like I will dislike them if they do not. I listen to people explain their factually incorrect viewpoints without daring to correct them in front of other people. Perhaps face is a contributing factor to pride here. Maybe it is possible to always be correct and honorable when you build a society that forbids people from saying otherwise.
Edited by Lewis Watson.
