中美面子观差异

On Cultural Differences Between American and Chinese Face Perspectives

Abstract: Politeness is a symbol of human civilization and the feature of all the civilized society. It is not only universal but also culturally specific. Two countries like America and China have different cultures which lead to different realization on politeness. As one theory of politeness principle, the face perspective is also different. The paper introduces the different face perspectives between America and China and analyzes cultural differences behind them and their corresponding reasons. At first, this paper tries to introduce different concepts of face between America and China by quoting and analyzing some scholars’ opinions on face, such as Goffman, Brown & Levinson and Hu Hsienchin’s. Next step, this paper tries to discuss the cultural conflicts behind different concepts of face, for instance, American individualism and Chinese collectivism, American negative face and Chinese positive face and American equality and Chinese hierarchy, and analyzes the reasons from different aspects including history, culture, thinking patterns, national characters and traditional ideology, etc. Finally, in order to reduce barriers caused by different concepts of face in cross-cultural communication, this paper further suggests that it is necessary to understand mutual different concepts of face by trying to be direct when among the Americans and trying to be euphemistic when among the Chinese. And the paper also believes that based on better understanding of mutual face perspectives and more effective communication between America and China, the friendship between the two countries will be promoted.

Key words: Cross-cultural communication; cultural difference; face

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perspective;

从面子观看中美文化差异

摘要：礼貌是人类文明的标志，也是所有文明的特征。礼貌既是一种普遍现象，又是一种个性化的交际原则。像中美这两个拥有不同文化背景的国家，其文化的不同必然导致人们对礼貌有着不同的认识。面子观，作为礼貌原则之一，在这两个国家自然有着不同的理解。本文介绍了中美不同的面子观并分析了不同面子观背后反映出来的不同的文化和相应的原因。作者通过引用像高夫曼，布朗和列文森，以及胡先晋等学者的观点介绍了中美不同的面子观。接下来，文章探讨了不同面子观背后反映出的不同文化，比如：美国的个人主义和中国的集体主义的差异，美国的消极面子和中国的积极面子的差异，美国的平等性和中国的等级性的差异，并分析了造成这些差异成因，例如历史，文化，思维模式，民族性格以及传统意识等方面的原因。最后，本文建议，为了减少国际交流中的一些障碍，应当了解彼此的面子观，与美国人打交道时尽量直接点，与中国人打交道尽量委婉点。相信读者在此基础上能够更好地理解中美的面子观，能够进行更有效的国际交流，以促进中美关系的发展。

关键词：跨文化交际；文化差异；面子观

Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1

1. An approach to different face perspectives…………………………….………1

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1.1 The American face perspective…………………………………………………2

1.1.1 Erving Goffman’s opinion on face perspective …………………………....2

1.1.2 Brown & Levinson’s opinion on face perspective…………………………3

1.2 The Chinese face perspective………………………………………...…………4

2. Cultural conflicts & reasons behind different concepts face……...…………5

2.1. Individualism vs. Collectivism…………………………………………...…....5

2.1.1 The American value--- individualism & reasons………………………......5

2.1.2 The Chinese value--- collectivism & reasons…………………..…………6

2.2. Negative Face vs. Positive Face………………………………………………8

2.2.1 The American Negative Face & reasons…………………………….……8

2.2.2 The Chinese Positive Face & reasons…………………………….………9

2.3 Equality vs. Hierarchy…………………………………………………..……10

2.3.1 The American equality & reasons……………………………………..…10

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of

2.3.2 The Chinese hierarchy & reasons……………………………………..…11

3. Suggestions ……………………………………………………………………..12

3.1. Knowing different concepts of face……………………………………….…12

3.2. Trying to be direct when among the Americans………………………..……12

3.3. Trying to be euphemistic when among the Chinese…………………………13

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….…………13

References…………………………………………………………………………………….15

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………16

IV

On Cultural Differences Between American and Chinese Face Perspectives

Introduction

Politeness is a symbol of human civilization and the feature of all the civilized society. Politeness which is thought to be one of the moral aspects is referred to the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally-defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context. Similarly, face perspective, as one of the basic factors of politeness, is unexceptionally different under the different cultural contexts in China and America. If people know nothing about these differences, they won’t be able to have effective communication in intercultural context.

In this thesis, cultural differences between American and Chinese face perspectives are discussed in three aspects: the introduction of different concepts of face under different cultural backgrounds between America and China, the analysis of cultural differences reflected by different concepts of face and their causes, and some suggestions to reduce barriers caused by different concepts of face in cross-cultural communication so as to promote mutual understanding between the two nations.

1. An approach to different face perspectives

“Face” is a ubiquitous concept that exists in all cultures. However, in different cultural context, the concept of “face” has been defined in many different ways. Goffman (1955) conceptualized it as “something that is diffusedly located in the flow of

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events.” People experience face concerns in different social situations.

Brown and Levinson (1978) in their classic work of “Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomenon”, present face as “the public self-image that every member of a society wants to claim for himself/herself.” Face is a social image that individuals would like to preserve for themselves. At other times, individuals have to fight to preserve their face.

And the Chinese scholar, Lin Yutang (1968) defines it as “a psychologically image that can be granted and lost and fought for and presented as a gift.” This definition includes the concern for dignity, honor, and status. Hence, face can be given by people and lost.

1.1 The American face perspective

In terms of American face perspective, the Canadian sociologist, Erving Goffman and English scholars, Brown and Levinson, are typical, and their relative ideas on face concerns are popular among Americans.

1.1.1 Erving Goffman’s opinion on face perspective

In 1950s, Erving Goffman, a Canadian sociologist, came up with his face perspective from angle of sociology in his article: On Face-work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction. According to Goffman, face is defined as a kind of positive social value

one person pursues in social interaction, which is also known as the positive image of

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self that individuals have when interacting with others. According to Goffman (1955), face is a sociological construct of interaction and once individuals give out a positive self image of themselves, they would have to keep that set image. When individuals can not keep the image they claim to be, they risk being embarrassed and also they will be considered to be odd and perverse.

Goffman came up with the theory of Face work on the issue. The way individuals want to keep their self-image is to do face work. Face work is a mutual thing. It needs both the listener and the speaker’s mutual work. When the listener calls into questions the self image the speaker presents, the speaker will risk losing their face. In return, the listener will lose their face for putting the speaker into that situation. So the best way to solve this problem for the listener and the speaker is to protect face for each other. That is also why people try to use courteous expressions in social interaction.

1.1.2 Brown & Levinson’s opinion on face perspective

In 1978, two English scholars, Brown and Levinson, published their famous

Universals in Language Usage: Politeness Phenomena based on Goffman’s definition of

face perspective. It talks about Face Management View. According to their research, they find among English, the native Mexican language, and the native Indian language, three totally different kinds of language backgrounds, using courteous expressions is universal. After some modifications, they published Politeness: Some Universals of Language Usage in 1987. The book talks about acts threatening face, discusses the differences

between positive face and negative face, introduces politeness phenomena and face perspective to a point. They explain their politeness theory and present three concepts:

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Face, Face-Saving Theory and Face-Threatening Acts.

According to Brown and Levinson, face is defined as public image individuals strive for when interacting with others. Through social interaction, individuals fight for their own public image which is demonstrated by the party to win over real social value.

As to the Face-Saving Theory, Brown and Levinson assumes everyone who interacts with others is the Model Person.(Brown & Levinson , 1978: 63) Simply put, everyone is an individual who has no trouble in socializing. They believe every model person is a reasonable person who has the need of face. And the face every social member wants is actually the public self-image he or she strives for in the public. It is divided into two categories: negative face and positive face. Negative face refers that individuals don’t like being forced, nor being interfered by others or sacrificing their own benefits to fawn on others. They want the freedom to be themselves. Positive face means the desire of being approved and praised by others.

At the same time, Brown and Levinson believe that most of the speech acts are threatening face essentially. Sometimes, they may cause embarrassment. That’s why people use courteous language in social communications to reduce the rate of threatening face. So when talking to others, individuals have to protect both other people’s negative face and positive face. Face-Threatening Acts are classified by Brown and Levinson, including acts threatening listeners’ negative face and positive face and acts threatening speakers’ negative face and positive face. In the meantime, they came up with negative politeness strategy and positive politeness strategy correspondingly.

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1.2 The Chinese face perspective

According to Hu Hsienchin, a Chinese anthropologist, face represents important social reputation which people gain through their continuous hard working and wisdom in their life experience. It is an important and typical social psychological phenomenon. Chinese have always been valuing face. From their point of view, face is so important, sometimes even as important as life. (1944)

Chinese face is divided into two characters, one standing for honour and reputation and the other self-esteem and dignity. The two are something that Chinese people will pay at any price and at any time to protect.

Face can be thought as invisible face. Just like what Mr. Lin Yutang said “Chinese people’s face can be washed, shaved, lost, given, fought and saved.”(1941: 139) No matter how rich or poor one person is, no matter in what social hierarchy one person is, they all need to protect their face.

When interacting with people, Chinese always try to protect both their own face and other people’s face. They always disparage themselves and elevate others. Even if when they have to criticize people, they will compliment them first and then point out their shortcomings. The Chinese face value has been well observed for thousands of years just because of “li”, an ideology advocated by Confucianism and deeply influencing Chinese people. In accordance with this doctrine, people should be self-restrained and considerate and loving one another. Li refers to right conduct in maintaining one’s place in the hierarchical order. Li is now used by the average Chinese to mean decorum.

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One important way to be decorous is to accept and respect each other to preserve face. In this way, they can maintain harmonious relationships with other people.

2. Cultural conflicts & reasons behind different concepts of face

Under different cultural backgrounds, face perspectives are different. Likewise, different concepts of face reflect cultural differences. And these cultural differences are caused by different reasons. In general, there are mainly three differences about cultural conflicts behind different concepts of face between America and China, such as Individualism vs. Collectivism, Negative Face vs. Positive Face, and Equality vs. Hierarchy, which are really important and should be taken into consideration during cross-cultural communications.

2.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism

The first cultural difference is about the two countries’ different value. Americans value individualism and Chinese value collectivism. The difference is caused by different reasons, such as history, ideology, and life-style and so on.

2.1.1 The American value --- individualism & reasons

From the concepts of American face perspective as introduced before, it is known that American face perspective emphasizes individualism. American face perspective highlights the realization of self-value, pursuance of self-spirit, the satisfaction of self-desire and self-freedom. Individual desire exceeds that of the group and an

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individual wouldn’t like to give up his or her own benefits for the group.

Why does individualism play such an important role in America? Following reasons should be taken into consideration. Firstly, American individualism can be traced back to as early as the American colonial period. As early as in 1607, first British colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia. After that, many other colonies were founded one after another. The colonists were building a new way of life in the New World. There were a number of features which would play a role in forming the American characters, including rule of law, respect of individual rights, religious tolerance and a strong spirit of individual enterprise. In 1620, a part of British puritans sailed to the New World in a ship called “Mayflower”. They brought Christianity to the New World. It encouraged people to show themselves and value themselves. What’s more, the Declaration of Independence and the basic belief Americans held when they got off British colonialism

fully embodied individual pursuance of freedom, life and happiness.

Secondly, life in North American has been mobile virtually from the earliest days of European colonization. Colonial people did not hesitate to move on if life in a certain locality didn’t suit them. Afterwards, with the founding of American economic institutions of capitalism and the establishing of American society based on private ownership, the population was quite transient and it’s harder and harder to form a stable society. Thus, the composition of one’s community and friendship groups changed often during one’s lifetime and even relatives would be left behind when one decided to search elsewhere for a better life. Given the constant shifting of group memberships, attention increasingly focused on individuals instead of on group’s integrity, and harmony rarely attained the significance for Americans. So long as one

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didn’t obstruct others, he could do whatever he wanted. And then, individual particular lifestyle was valued and individual feeling, desire and privacy were respected. Respecting individual freedom, rights and independence was actually polite. Otherwise, it’s not.

2.1.2 The Chinese value --- collectivism & reasons

Similarly, from Chinese face perspective as introduced before, it can be inferred that Chinese face emphasizes group. Chinese face highlights personal awareness and personal social status in the group and harmonious relationships among all the members. Ting-Toomey argues that in a collectivist culture like China, the face of the group is more important than the face of any individual in that group. In China, individual has to be subject to the group and the desire of individual can’t exceed that of the group. Here is a research helping understand the difference between American individualism and Chinese collectivism to some extent. When 3 pictures of chicken, cattle and hay are shown to a group of Americans and Chinese to pick out two of them, it turns out that most Americans pick out the pictures of chicken and cattle, because both of them are animals; but most Chinese pick out cattle and hay, because cattle eat hay. Thus, a conclusion can be drawn that Americans tend to see things as category while Chinese tend to see the relationship between things.

There are two reasons can be used to explain why the good of the group is so important in China. First and foremost, Chinese people are deeply influenced by Confucianism. Confucianism advocated great harmony, which emphasized the harmony and integrity among individual, group and the whole society. One should try his best to obey his community and society to the maximum extent. So Chinese face is based on

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collectivism and emphasizes that individual interest subordinates to the general interest.

Second, China has a feudal history of more than two thousand years. And the traditional idea of Chinese feudal society and policy has always held that farming overweighs commerce. Hu Wenzhong said, “In such an agricultural country, farmers were tied down to the land they lived by from generation to generation. There was hardly any change among farmers, neither their social class nor locality, except for wars or famine”. (胡文仲，1988: 1) And then, interdependent relationships were formed between people and land, people and people. Thus, group relationships were getting closer and closer and society more and more stable. In this way, the Chinese had little opportunity to move away from the locality of their birth and have tended to spend their entire lives in the company of the same friends, neighbors, and relatives. When one was attached for life to a given group of people, maintaining harmonious relationships among all its members became of paramount importance. Under this history background, collectivism is gradually formed. People take the group as the centre and personal feelings, desire and privacy are not important and should be given away when it comes to those of group.

2.2 Negative Face vs. Positive Face

It can be also inferred from the definitions of positive face and negative face by Brown and Levinson and different face perspectives between America and China that American pay more attention to negative face and Chinese pay more attention to positive face because their different thinking patterns and different national characters.

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2.2.1 The American Negative Face & reasons

Based on the definition of negative face by Brown and Levinson, negative face refers that individual has autonomous freedom and rights and any individual behavior won’t be interfered. It focuses on personal independence. Americans look forward to freedom and they have a mind of their own. They don’t need nor like other people to tell them what to do. Even little kids have their own thoughts about things. At the same time, their parents will never command their kids to do anything. In addition, American people attach importance to privacy which shows their protection of negative face.

Why is it that Americans value their negative face so much? Since each kind of culture has its own special system, different cultures will, of course, mark their value systems and worldviews with different characters. National character refers to a kind of psychological state each nation gradually forms in the process of its formation and development. It directly and deeply influences people’s way of doing things in social interaction.

Firstly, Americans and the westerners believe in the distance between man and nature. This theory emphasizes that man must keep certain distance from nature while observing it, and such a believing is the cause of self-centric philosophy prevailing in most of the western nations. In the social interaction, it advocates frank and outspoken manner and personality, that is, one is one, and two is two. Moreover, Americans have the pattern of liner-thinking. They are used to considering things from the part to the whole and value analysis and logic. They don’t like beating around the bush. When their thoughts are alien to others’, Americans will still insist on their thoughts.

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Secondly, Americans are known for their spirit of adventure and competitiveness, independence and confidence, frankness and sincerity. When interacting with people, American character requires them to reveal their real emotion and have their own independent way of behavior or thinking. Moreover, such an American outgoing nature always makes them directly fight for their rights and keep them from being threatened to protect their negative face.

2.2.2 The Chinese Positive Face & reasons

Unlike American face perspective, negative face doesn’t exist in Chinese face perspective. Chinese face perspective doesn’t express directly the desire of freedom of action. Chinese culture doesn’t emphasize the freedom of action, especially too much personal freedom at the cost of the collective interest. Instead, Chinese face expresses their request of dignity and respect. They extremely hope to be accepted and praised. If one can’t be accepted or respected by the group or society, then he will lose his foundation in society. When interacting with people, Chinese people always follow the rule of supporting others and trying not to object other people’s opinion.

Then why is protecting positive face so important to Chinese people? Thinking patterns and national characters should be taken into consideration. At first, the Chinese hold the traditional view of oneness between man and nature. In the process of China’s development, Chinese people gradually form the tendency of entirety and synthesis in the thinking patterns. They pursue the harmony between man and nature, harmony between man and society, and harmony among men. The Chinese have the spiral thinking pattern. They are accustomed to considering things from the whole to the part,

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from the big to the small, and try to keep a balanced view almost on everything around them. They would rather try to find ways to help people than say no to them directly when people ask them for help.

Second, Chinese people are famous for their modesty and prudence, their implicitly and introversion, their mercy and lenience. Chinese national characters require them to seek common ground while reserving differences and interdependence. When interacting with people, they try their best to show their courtesy and get themselves accepted by the group and make sure their behavior meet the standard required by the group. What’s more, Chinese people are introversive if compared to Americans. They are unassertive and euphemistic. Even if their interests are threatened, they won’t speak out directly. They prefer to take self-effacing way to deal with it. Sometimes, they would rather give up their own interests to make other people feel praised and content. In this way, they show their politeness and comity so that they can be approved by the group and protect their positive face.

2.3 Equality vs. Hierarchy

Social systems are also the products of cultures, influencing people in everyway as well as their attitude towards face values. Since America and China are quite different countries—Americans emphasize equality while Chinese accept hierarchy, their different centralization of authority, different leading ideology and different processes of history have all effected their face perspectives.

2.3.1 The American equality & reasons

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The American face perspective emphasizes individual freedom, rights, desire, independence and value. They clearly know what they want and what they should do or not. No one can force another to do anything. Everyone is born to be equal. No body needs to force or depress himself or herself to fawn upon others. They’d like to express their own ideas no matter how much others don’t want to hear, no matter how high others’ positions are. When they have different ideas from others, they’ll speak it out even when they would cause the embarrassment. Sometimes, they express themselves so direct that others feel losing their face. In fact, Americans never intend to make others look bad, and they just want show people what they think no matter what. They think it’s a natural thing to express their own ideas when they have different opinions, because they believe that everyone is equal and everyone has the equal right to show himself or herself.

Firstly, America is a country of low centralization of authority and it chooses equality over hierarchy. One’s loss of face is not necessarily threatening the face of the group, so attention is gradually focused on individuals instead of the group. Although life in America certainly involves people in hierarchies, Americans typically make efforts to deemphasize the social distance implied in any superior subordinate relationship and thus to promote, at last superficially, an ethic of egalitarianism.

Secondly, the concept of equality has been in existence in American politics, economy, culture, daily life and ideology. The desire of equality is based on American founding principles. So Americans’ face perspective is naturally affected

Thirdly, due to the American special history, there were no privileged nobles at the

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beginning. And the first generation of capitalists built up from nothing. They were in the same equal situation. The three above are the reasons why American value equality.

2.3.2 The Chinese hierarchy & reasons

Firstly, Chinese face perspective is rooted in hierarchy in China. China is a country of high centralism as compared to America. One’s loss of face might cause the loss of the group’s face and potentially threatens social order. So, Chinese face perspective emphasizes that the interest of the group is more important than that of individuals and individuals can give up their interest for the group. So, in China, attention is always focused on the group. Trying to protect the interests or face of the group, individuals have to give up something, respect others, and protect others’ face while protecting their own. This shows the existence of hierarchy in Chinese culture, such as never calling the seniors their first names, trying not to object to their superiors and show VIP more respect and so on.

Secondly, China has a history of feudalism of more than two thousand years. And feudalism emphasized hierarchy. As for the whole country, the emperor was the son of the god and everyone should respect him without any reasons. As for the whole family, whatever the seniors said was all right.

Thirdly, Confucius emphasized that human beings exist in interactive relationships with others and that most human relationships are unequal in nature. He believed the senior party was assumed to have prerogatives and authority with respect to the junior party; but also the senior party was also constrained in dealings with his or her junior by

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a morality of compassion and righteousness. The junior party, in return, was bound to be respectful and obedient toward the senior party; but he or she also could confidently expect protection, loyalty, and mentorship from his or her senior.

3. Suggestions

Since the differences of face perspectives between America and China are likely to cause misunderstandings in international communication, some useful suggestions should be followed to avoid or reduce cultural barriers.

3.1 Knowing different concepts of face

There’s an old saying, “know yourself as well as the enemy.” Although the face perspectives of mutual sides can’t be called an enemy, it is clear to see the importance of knowing mutual different concepts of face. For example, Americans value self-independence and self-realization. When interacting with them, people should respect their different, or maybe some weird thoughts and not persuade them to do anything they don’t like, even you think you’re just being polite. As for Chinese, they value face very much. Face represents their dignity and status. So when communicating with Chinese, people should try not to object them in public and always be respectful when talking to a Chinese senior.

3.2 Trying to be direct when among the Americans

It is typical that Americans always have the mind of their own. They value freedom,

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equality and the realization of self-value. They don’t like beating around the bush. They are frank and outspoken; one is one, two is two. Even if their thoughts are alien to others’, they will speak them out directly rather than hold them back. Americans prefer to state matters straightforwardly and accurately. They say no when their self-interest notices that a negatively reply is the necessary response. They say “I don’t know” when, in fact, they don’t know. It’s not that Americans don’t value politeness and sensitivity. They do, when they recognize when other person’s feelings are at stake. But because they value directness more highly, they view their task in sensitive situations as giving complete information in a direct way. So when making contact with Americans, people should try to be direct with them. For Chinese people, sometimes they think they are trying to protect others’ face by using euphemistic expressions. Well, it’s hard for Americans to figure out euphemistic expressions and they like people being direct with them.

3.3 Trying to be euphemistic when among the Chinese

Unlike Americans, Chinese people are implicit. They don’t directly say no to people. And they don’t easily say “I don’t know” when, in fact, they really don’t know, because they are trying to protect both their and other’s face. In general, Chinese people value face much more than Americans do, but they don’t bring face considerations into every situation. Face considerations come into play most often when there is unpleasant news to be broken or when a difficult matter must be dealt with. Under these situations, you should be alert regarding face. The Chinese like being implicit and euphemistic so that they not only show their politeness but also protect both their own and others’ face when they are going to deal with some awkward

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situations. So trying to be euphemistic when among the Chinese is definitely a good choice.

Conclusion

In accordance with the theory of politeness principle, the difference of face perspective reflects the difference of culture. And different cultures affect people’s attitude to face. The cultural communication between Americans and Chinese people certainly involve face in many ways. As a kind of politeness phenomena, face perspective is a part of speech event, an indispensable aspect to cultivate conversational skills. Through the introduction of the differences between Americans’ face and Chinese people’s face above, it can be concluded that Chinese face shows a collectivist characteristics while American face an individual characteristics. Studying different face perspectives under different cultural backgrounds is helpful to reveal the reasons for the misunderstandings and conflicts between the two countries and enhance mutual understanding. What’s more, with the help of the little suggestions given at last, it is hoped that that people in the two countries will have more effective communication.

References

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[2] Brown, P. and Levinson, S. Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1987

[3] Goffman, Erving. On Face-work: An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction [J]. Psychiatry, 1955. [4] Hu Hsienchin. The Chinese concepts of “Face” [J]. American Anthropologist, 1944.

[5] L. Yutang, My country and my people (Taipei, Republic of China: John Day, 1968).

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[7] 胡文仲. 跨文化交际与英语学习[M]. 上海: 上海译文出版社, 1988.

[8] 陆欣. 中西方面子观之差异研究[J]. 继续教育研究, 2009．

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[10] 周文博. 中西礼貌原则对比分析[J]. 黑龙江教育学院学报, 2006，10．

[11] Ting-Toomey, S. The Matrix of Face: An Updated Face-Negotiation Theory. Ed. Wikipedia. 2011. 10. Dec. 23, 2011

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Acknowledgements

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