Face value, that’s a major topic over here, though I might not be entirely familiar with the subject I hope that I’m getting closer and closer everyday even though it is almost impossible for a foreigner to catch all its subtleties. So loosing face could be related to what we see as humiliation however, as we are in , decreases in your “Mianzi” (reputation that rest on education, wealth and social position), or “lian” (moral integrity and social conduct) is happening through completely different means.
For example, 47.5% of Chinese people think they would lose face if they don’t have enough money to invite their friends to the restaurant. Another example, if you are taking Chinese lessons, don’t laugh if you can’t understand your teacher’s English otherwise (s)he will lose face but on the other side, (s)he will probably take the piss out of you when you are talking Chinese… Why? I’m not sure but apparently “it is normal, it’s because it’s Chinese”!!!
Can someone explain that to me please…? But careful, the concept is apparently increasing in importance the higher your “social class”.
However, while loosing face is extremely bad, you can always gain some face, anyone has the capability of increasing your face… the best way to gain face is to be able to do things that other can’t, in second position is the time when someone makes a compliment about you in public.
However, it seems that young people tend to pay less and less attention to this. At least that’s what they all say, when you talk about it with a friend he will tell you that loosing face is something their parents where afraid of but not them. While that’s what they say, I have to say that I am not too sure about that.
