Chinese virtue

Chapter 3 Death to face
"Face" is a body organ shared by all human beings.To use it to generalize the character of the Chinese is indeed, at first glance, quite absurd.However, for the Chinese, the word "mianzi" not only refers to a person's face, but also a compound word with many meanings, which contains even more meanings than we can describe or understand.

In China, drama is the only form of national entertainment.The Chinese are as obsessed with drama as the British are with sports, and the Spaniards are with bullfighting.

As long as the Chinese are stimulated—no matter how slight the stimulation is, they will imagine themselves as a certain character in the play, and then perform various dramatic actions such as Jishou.When Chinese people think about problems, they use a dramatic way of thinking.When a person needs to defend himself, even if there are only two or three people in the audience, he will speak to a group of people: "Since everyone is here, I am not afraid to say it in front of you..." If he defends If he succeeds, he will be able to "step down" with dignity, otherwise he will not be able to "step down".And all of this obviously has nothing to do with the facts.

For the Chinese, the form of a question is always more important than the content.If a person can seize the moment and say something beautiful in the right way, then his desire to act is satisfied.As the audience, we don't need to go behind the scenes to see what the truth is, otherwise, we will break the good impression left by all the dramas.In the face of complex real life, people can "have face" by doing some dramatic actions appropriately; on the contrary, if they don't do or even ignore or prevent these actions, they will "lose face".If my understanding is correct, then I dare say that once you understand what "face" is, you can understand many important characteristics of Chinese people.

There is one more thing to add, that is, the way Chinese people obtain "face" and the principles of Chinese people's regulation of "face" are often beyond the comprehension of Westerners.Westerners often ignore this dramatic factor in dealing with the Chinese as something similar to the South Pacific islander's taboo, because it is clearly present but elusive, and its Rise and fall are not governed by rules.Speaking of this point, both China and the West must admit that when faced with the same thing, the two sides will never be able to reach a consensus.In rural China, small disputes often occur among villagers.If someone wants to be a "peacemaker", he must think carefully in advance to take into account the "face" of both parties.In Europe, politicians have gone to great lengths to balance power.The Chinese mediation is not to maintain justice, but to take into account the "face" of all parties.Because although justice is feasible in theory, it is unrealistic for Orientals.The same is true in litigation.In the vast majority of lawsuits, the result of the judgment is to hit each party with [-] boards.

Sending a generous gift to someone is regarded as "face" for that person.However, for the recipients, the best way to deal with it is to neither accept it all nor reject it, but only accept a part of it.Here are a few examples to illustrate how to save "face".

If a person makes a mistake and is exposed, he loses "face".At this time, even if the evidence is solid, he will deny it flatly, because only by doing so can he save his "face"; someone lost a tennis ball, and judging from all signs, this tennis ball was picked up by a rough worker.When the master asked the rough man if he had picked up the ball, the man angrily denied it, but then he would run to the place where the tennis ball was lost, and "find" the ball without incident, saying, "You' Isn't the ball that I threw 'in here?" In fact, the tennis ball was still in his cuff before it slipped to the ground; a maid stole the guest's pocket knife and hid it in the master's room inside.After the guests noticed that the penknife was missing, the maid publicly announced that she had found the penknife under the tablecloth.Under these circumstances, the parties have saved their "face".

A servant accidentally lost something belonging to his master, and he knew that he had to pay for it: he could either pay for it or take part of his wages as compensation.What will he do?He will find the owner, express that he doesn't want to do it anymore, and proudly say: "I don't want the money from the silver spoon either." He will find the debtor and utter a few harsh words to show his attitude towards this matter.Although he did not get any money by doing this, he warned the debtor not to renege on the debt, and he saved his "face"; a servant failed to complete the task assigned by the master because of carelessness or deliberation, and was about to be fired by the master.After he learned of his master's thoughts, he made the same mistake again and again, just to save his "face".

Throwing your life for "face" is simply not enough to arouse our interest.

However, there is one similar thing that is worth mentioning.I heard that a magistrate in China committed the crime of beheading, but he saved his "face" by wearing an official uniform when he was executed, because it is a special kind of honor to wear an official uniform to execute a sentence.

注释
①Taboo was originally a dialect of the Tonga Islanders in Polynesia in the South Pacific, meaning "sacred", "dangerous" and "untouchable".In China, the word corresponding to "tabu" is "taboo".

(End of this chapter)