“So-So” is NO-NO
China is a developing country and will remain a developing country so long as the national standard (excuse) for poor services and poor products is “This is China, so-so is ok.”
From sales clerks in department stores, to policemen on the street, to medical staff in the best hospitals, service is extremely poor, the result of apathy, indifference, and incompetence. Nobody seems to care.
Goods and products are substandard and even defective but no one complains. Chinese people have learned that complaining brings you personal trouble.
Most Chinese do not want to excel or stand out. They would rather be lost in a crowd than recognized for excellence. Criticism is expected but compliments are taboo and considered embarrassing.
“FACE” is the most prized possession. Chinese do not realize that FACE is simply false pride and has no real time value or that it in fact inhibits personal growth and development. It is not good to lose FACE (be embarrassed) or to cause someone else to lose FACE. Take FACE to Starbucks and see what it will buy. NOTHING!
Take FACE to class and refuse to participate for fear of making mistakes and losing FACE. There will be no educational progress.
Conclusion
This article has developed the argument that the influence of face in classroom interactions is pervasive, complex and powerful among Chinese, illustrated here in a UK university. The concept of face enables us to account for much Chinese behavior in the classroom setting. The four types of face-related factors: low-risk face, collective face, hierarchical face and harmonious face, which are clearly demonstrated in the three Chinese participants in this study, revealed their effectiveness in preventing the active participation of the three Chinese in the classroom activities regardless of their linguistic abilities. The dynamics of the concern for face revealed in this study has confirmed the findings of Chang and Holt (1994), Gao (1996) and Hwang (1987) concerning the face issue among Chinese in settings other than the
classroom. To cite this Article Wu, Xiaoxin(2009) ‘The dynamics of Chinese face mechanisms and classroom behavior: a case study’, Evaluation & Research in Education, 22: 2, 87 — 105
The above article is available to SYSU students on Professor Wolff’s university page.
http://engedu.sysu.org.cn/graduate/holistics/index2.html
The “collective face” retards China’s development. “So-So” is non-confrontational and allows everyone to maintain FACE. But it also insures that services and goods remain at the poorest common denominator, poor.
FACE is a direct consequence of the socialist society that criticizes and even punishes anyone who achieves, excels or stands out, but rewards those who blend in or melt into the crowd. So-So becomes the social standard, although it is a standard of mediocrity.
China’s educational system is a direct product of this collective face mentality. It fuels the test taking mentality and the chalk and talk pedagogy. Every student is required to memorize the exact same answer to each and every question. No one is allowed to think or act differently. Everyone is a robot with programmed thoughts and memorized answers and no one loses FACE. For all to succeed and not lose FACE, the regimen must be at the lowest common denominator.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!
So long as FACE is a prized possession, China will remain a developing country. FACE predestines failure, it does not foster success.
JUST SAY “NO-NO” TO “SO-SO.”
I think the problem of face has deeper meaning than its surface phenomena.
First: Chinese people daintily face. They think: a tree live for its bark and a man live for his face. Without face, person can die. In other words, you can call this spirit.
Second: face means harmonious. You respect someone else, people will respect you. Certainly it changes originality meaning. Today, people always admire other ones, even he do wrong things. We scared tell the truth and be laughed by your family or classmates.
Finally: if we want to study English well, we must put the face on your feet, reading aloud and often speaking. Unless you do our teacher told us suggestions, can we learn it very well.
From now on, just say ‘no-no’ to ‘so-so’.
After read the above article,I have mixed emotions .First of all ,I have to admit the real things about Chinese face . Of course ,the reasons is simple and apperent which was describe in the above article.To be frankly ,the above reasons are exactly right ,though I feel that too terrible and I have that shortcoming.Secondly , the above page may be different from the real world .Because China has own traditional characters ,and the proverb about face is real too .So , there are a lot of people can not accept the above passage’s thoughts. But I can accept the passage meanings especially as a students and a young man . I told me that I must begin to like losing face and strengthen myself by this. I want to become the winner.
I can’t agree with you,my dear professor.Indeed,I am very disappointed about this ,but we should realize that it is just only ocur in a certain term.Can’t you say that the developed country haven’t experienced this period?I firmly beleive it will disappear in my country in future.Let’s talk over the issue about the face.May be you are right in some aspects such as practicing spoken English,independant and so on ,but I am still not agree with you.You have ignored the most important point ,that is ,giving face to someone is equal to showing your respect to somebody.Anybody can’t deny it, of course you.That’s why I am chinese ,but you are American.Although we have different opinion,but I still say thanks to you,thanks for giving so much suggestion to China ,I really appreciate to you.
This passage is revealing the fundamental reason why China is still a developing country. We seldom noticed what our culture have done to us. Due to our introverted culture, we do not want to be the excellent one, which means we will be criticized by others and then we will lose the so called face.
So in my opinion, if we want to be someone, we need to forget who we are first. If we want to be excellent instead of great, we need to forget “so so”.
I don’t agree with you for saying that “so long as FACE is a prized possession, China will remain a developing country. “I don’t believe that China developped from a poor country just because Face was not a prized possession.Some people fear they lose face in front of people,which maybe a mental problem that can be solved.Your opinion is too absolute!
And I don’t think there are relations between “so-so” and “face”.So-so is a kind of manner in which people doing something.So-so is not strict require.Maybe you can say that if we do all the things just in a So-so manner,China will never develop.But dose this case exit?
Face in china can be a big topic. We have to agree with the auther’s opinion in a certain degree, because it does play a negtive role in some areas of our daily life. But as a Chinese, we all clearly know that face is also very good and very important. That’s why few students totally agree with the auther. Actually,it’s the mirrior of our culture or it’s our culture itself. And it’s our way to deal the interpersonal relationships, just like playing Taichi, avoiding the direct conflicts. If a foreigner really wants to know Chinese, he must not only know its importance to Chinese and know how to use Face.
Facing these problems as a developing country is more important. The reason of these problems which can not be ignored is the social transformation. Regarding these conflicts we must seek the reason in Chinese society reforming in the macroscopic background. There are innovations in fields of economy, culture and thought along with every social transformation. People also need time to adjust the changes of their life. As time goes by, more and more people will recognize that they have rights and duties to transform the impression of the national standard .
Sometimes we take much attention to our “face” which are nasty ordeals. When we meet something need us to throw the “face”, we just do it, it’s nothing. About leaning English, sometimes we will be shame to speak, afraid to lose our “face” .we shoud tell ourself that I want to try ,I want to speak ,I want to learn.learning is not a fault.
Face is a Chinese tradition, Which is stressed in each family even in our childhood. So from childhood, we are taught to sit in a classroom neatly, listen to teacher carefully, finish our homework timely. When we grow up, we have learned that China is the most democratic country who takes efforts to establish the image of responsible big country. And now, we are still live in a low income level.
As an university student, we must have an independent view on this issue. Face is gifted by others rather than robbed from others. Only when our country develops, we can receive the respect from outer world. So from now on, try to forget the face we have, practice and work hard, shout out “no-no” instead of “so-so”.
In my opinion, the national standard for service and products is not “This is China, so-so is OK” any more. China is changing a lot. People in China do care the quality of the products and service nowadays.
It is undeniable that some of the Chinese products and service are still substandard. But we can see that many things have been improved. There are several reasons. First, the demand of the consumers has changed. Most of people are seeking for service and products which are of high quality. For them, “So-So” is “NO-NO”. Second, with the development of technology, many products and service systems have been improved. Third, the Chinese market is opening wider and the competition is getting tougher. If the firms cannot offer service or products of good quality, they cannot make much money or they even cannot survive. Five, more and more people stand out to assert their rights. If they bought inferior goods or get poor service, they do complain. Six, the legal system is improving. The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests” works.
The author says “Most Chinese do not want to excel or stand out.” This may not be true for today’s Chinese people, especially not true for young people in China. If you don’t excel or stand out, you can’t get promotion. I think, most of people don’t want to fail in the competence with others. Many young people, me included, are aggressive and ambitious. We try to be outstanding.
As for the “FACE”, I really appreciate the author’s opinion. Most of Chinese people do not want to lose face whenever and wherever. And people will try to preserve everyone’s face. I think this tradition is not good. Chinese people should get rid of false pride. We need more courage.
Why do Chinese people not want to lose face? I think the reason is that Chinese society is not tolerable enough for those who make mistakes. People who make mistakes may be laughed at or even punished. And they are afraid that losing face will leave a bad impression on other people.
I am ever afraid of losing my face. But from now on, I will get rid of the bad habits! Face is nothing. Just take action!
Firstly, I’ve always heard someone complaining poor services in China., especially the foreigners and the Chinese who came back from other countries. And I also suffer from such personal trouble sometimes. However, most of time we choose to complain but not to try to get it better by ourselves. Even if I think about it sometimes in order to improve the sevice quality. Finally I find it’s no use because I’m just a common person without any power and it’s complicated and hard to put the idea into practice. I believe situation will be better only when all the people realize the problem and push it forword. As a result, it’s a system problem but not only the sevice supplier.
Secondly, I also agree with the saying of “face”. In China, most of time, nothing is more important than face. So many of things we work on hard is just for our face. Consequently our parents ask us to study hard and behavior politely for their face in society, also ours. But I’ve found the situation has got better due to the introduction of foreign cultures without face trouble. So we don’t concern about face as much as our parents.
I guess Face is the commendation, admiration from others for the great effort on the road leading to success. Praise from others can be a great encouragement for people to keep on working hard. However, many Chinese people, including the government, are always trying to getting face by shortcut. Then “so-so is ok” comes. Actually, face needs people to overcome difficult time and get the faces eventually, including losing face.
I guess Face is the commendation, admiration from others for the great effort on the road leading to success. Praise from others can be a great encouragement for people to keep on working hard. However, many Chinese people, including the government, are always trying to getting face by shortcut. Then “so-so is ok” comes. Actually, face needs people to overcome difficult time and get the faces eventually, including losing face at first. only by saying goodbye to “so-so”and being excellent,can Chinese people get the real face.
I guess Face is the commendation, admiration from others for the great effort on the road leading to success. Praise from others can be a great encouragement for people to keep on working hard. However, many Chinese people, including the government, are always trying to get face by shortcut. Then “so-so is ok” comes. Actually, face needs people to overcome difficult time and get the faces eventually, including losing face at first. only by saying goodbye to “so-so”and being excellent,can Chinese people get the real face.
I agree that ‘so-so’, especially in the service industry, is very annoying and lethal. A ‘petrified’ waitress in a restaurant will for sure confirm a newcomer to a city or a country that it is a forsaken land that sees no future. Yet it is unfair to claim that most Chinese do not want to excel or stand out. The enormous pressure Chinese students suffer mainly comes from the desire, no matter theirs’ or their parents’, to win; actually sometimes it is so unbearable that suicide is often reported. If the Chinese were content with the ‘so-so’ lives, they would not have gained the name of the most hard-working people in the world, and the fire of rage would not have burned down the shoes shops of the 7-day-working Chinese merchants in Spain in 2004. There must be some deep-rooted reasons for the omnipresent ‘so-so’ phenomenon in China. To be honest, I don’t know what exactly they are, but one thing for sure is the over-simplification of taking ‘change your attitude’ as the panacea to change the world.
Yes , “FACE”is the most prized possession . Mistake or Maturity? Chinese have to realize that face is simply false pride and has no real time value or that it in face inhibits personal growth and development .
In china , parents and teachers repeatedly tell us to correct our errors , Meanwhile , our friends , even all people laugh at us when we make mistakes , with all these negative messages , most of us have a hard time beliving that problems can be positive experiences , but if we take the time to think about what we have learned from various blunders , we will realize all the good that has come from these events . If we could fause after we make an error and ask how we can profit from this , we would realize that mistakes can often be turned into positive . Events that will help us become more confident and mature .
The culture of Face in China has a long history .And it is deemed as a culture to inheritance.Until now there are so many Chinese to live for a face.Their jobs,friends,ways of live,may be have the same purpose what is to protect their faces.For the time being we don’t say whether they live happily,but it can help the Chinese economic to development because the image project.Every person may strive to live and work.They can not stand discrimination coming from others.And it can be the character of our national.So we can’t say absolutely that China will remain a developing country.Of course we also should be vigilant on the consequences of the image project.
I think English is one of important skills we need to predominate in our future life,so I always want to improve my oral English and am desire to communicate with someone .Also,do not want to be a silence English student when I have study English for ten years .I hope that I can acquire a good achievement in spoken English this semester with the help of professor.
“Most Chinese do not want to excel or stand out. They would rather be lost in a crowd than recognized for excellence.” It is definitely the reality of China. Take having classes for example, I used to choose an inconspicuous seat in the corner to avoid being asked by teacher to answer questions. The result was that I seldom made mistake and kept away from embarrassment as possible as I could, but at the same time I made slow progress in my studying especially in English classes. Since I came to university, I have hardly made any improvement in my spoken English skill because I was afraid of being laughed at with my broken English. After reading the article, I finally believe that “face is simply false pride and has no real time value or that it in fact inhibits personal growth and development”, I will try to get rid of the unnecessary face and make every effort rather than just “SO SO”.
I have no ideas whether China will achieve success in the near future if Chinese people don’t care face any more.I wonder which kind of nation China should be.To become a typical advanced nation doesn’t mean a happy ending.Chinese people may enjoy a high quality life.However,they’re not Chinese any more.
I have to accept that most Chinese people think a lot of FACE, in their opinion FACE is a kind of dignity. There is an old saying in China that “Trees are living on bark, people are living on their faces”. So, it’s a deep-rooted notion in Chinese people’s mind, just like living in a middle way. Like Japanese or Korean, we’re Asian and easy to be shy. We got knowledge from our eldership and accepted the concept like FACE, they told us that we would never do things causing shame to them. Of course, this is the difference between Asian and Europeans. We are scared to losing face in public, and we lose many opportunities to develop. Fortunately, we have learned a lot from other counties, we are trying to change the education for young. As for ourselves, we will try our best to be self-confidence without fearing losing face.
China’s education system has its own characteristic.Form Chiese ancient educationist Confucius to tody’s teachers,most of them are in favor of giving their knowledge to the students.A teachers aim is to impart knowledg,and the students’tasks are just to remember what the teachers told him.Then in both the teachers and the students minds,this way of teaching and learing is more familiar.So in Chinese classroom,the inactiv atmosphere may be not about Face.Just because the students don’t acquaint themselves whit another way of teaching and learing.
Positively,sone “Chinese characteristics” are blocks of the development of China,but we are transforing those less attractive characteristics.And some changes need time and courage.”So-So” will be not the identification mark of Chinese products and services in the near future.
Maybe sometimes “FACE” bring negative social phenomenon and outcomes as the article tells us.But we all know that the in Korea,Japan and other SE Asia countries where they also take the “FACE” seriously.Sometimes even more.So I don’t agree with the saying that “so long as FACE is a prized possession, China will remain a developing country.”There are many causes for China is still and will remain a developing country.We have the largest population in the world, and some history reason such as the “Cultural Revolution” During the 1960s and so on. So my point is not whether we should or should not have the “FACE”,but how to use it correctly,not too much or nothing.After all,”FACE” is a Chinese tradition and has a long history.
As to me,I will contribute it to something to do with the prudent and introverted charateristics chinese always emphazise.Also,all kinds of the problem appearing in the proceed of the production and service involve so many factors-such as salary,institution,environment-that it can’t be solved in a short term.As far as I know,most of Chinese have realize this issue and trying to make some improvement in every walk of life.
Inspite we has not figure out exact measure to better these phenomenons,it is invaluable that we can find out the significance of them and make up our mind to pactice.
Face is a complicated thing here in China. We were taught that it is important to leave a good impression in front of others. We all know first impression is quite significant when you are hunting for a job. However, in terms of learning English, face is not the same as a crucial thing. If someone over-assessed face, he or she will lose a lot of opportunities to get access to English and practice English. No wonder Li Yang, a quite famous English teacher, remarked to all “I love losing face!”. Losing face is a determined process for Chinese heading for learning English. It means that you would speak sentences out in English without any unnecessary concerns.
Actually FACE does play a particular role in Chinese society.Chinese treasure FACE as a symbol of your power and possession—-If you have someone powerful or famous as your friends,you have got a big FACE.If you drive a nice car dazzled all the people around, you have got a big FACE.If you get a amazing score in the exam,you have got a big FACE…So in tranditional Chinese philosophy,the importance of FACE to someone is just like the bark to trees.But what strikes me mostly in this article is we can explain our shyness and introverted disposition through the FACE.In our dictionary,so many words can be found to make our behavors seem sound and reliable.We attribute our silenc in the discuss to our shyness,but as a matter of fact,what we really worry about is being laughted at with our naive opinions and losing our FACE.Also we may not like to talk with someone we do not know well,which can be explaind as fearing for the embarassing may arised,so FACE finds its place again.We are accustomed to express our ideas implicitly and indirectly, but this may lead to something simple and direct coverd,I never deem my shyness related to FACE before.Truth is simple in most cases but we always incline to make it complex and at last confuse ourselves.
However,there are some standpoints in this article I can not agree with.First,sometimes we do not complain about the substanderd products is not relevent to “SO-so”,but mostly grounded in the imperfcetion and defects of our rules and law,we appeal to nowhere to protect our rights,and complainings even trigger trouble to yourselves.second,what is similar to the previous is the pedagogy of Chinese students,I do not want to justify something,but from my angle the main reason for examination- oriented education system is the lack of educational source,especially high-leveled universities and quaulified facilities,how to pick out the best ones from so many Chinese chilldren? Exams seem sound and feasible mostly,also,its drawback is obvious.I expect the reform in this field.
At last,FACE is not the direct result of socialism,we may draw conclusions more from the tranditional culture ,after all,our ancestors cherish their face thousands of years ago,when Carl Marx and his country did not exist in fact.
As the old saying goes, “A scholar prefers death to humiliation”. We Chinese people do lay great store by our “FACE”, even equal to the treasure on our lives sometimes. Since the belief has been deeply rooted to our mind through the five-thousand- year Oriental Civilization, it’s hard to say goodbye to it even when we have realized the“So-So” problem. Undoubtedly, education should take on great responsibility as“It takes ten years to grow trees but a hundred years to rear people”.
Nowadays, the development of global economic environment leads to a great affection of the conflict of multi-culture to our Chinese students, especially those who study abroad. If the whole society sincerely glorify the “taking up the cudgels for a just cause” and show their courage by real action, we are expected to be developed into a much more civilized country!
Yes! Just say “NO-NO” to “SO-SO”!
I once attended a crazy English speech from Li Yang, he asked all of us to follow him to repeat loudly “I love losing my face”, at that moment, it seemed that face is not so important, because we had enthusiasm to learn English better regardless of losing our faces. Unfortunately, we are still afraid of losing face as before when we get out of the speech hall, which continues to inhibit personal growth and improvement. So I get to know the power of face, it makes us to accept “so-so is ok.” As a result, if you want to excel or stand out, put your thought of face away and do whatever you think can make yourself better, in the end, success will make you more beautiful than before.
The issue referred in this article is a problem. Many Chinese have pointed it out in articles and given some suggestion to change the situations. The question is why face problem lies embedded in some students’ hearts. Maybe it’s no only the young’s problem; they are influenced by some seniors. In my opinion, China will benefit much from associations with the outside world. Comparison is an important step to move forward. The Chinese can make better decisions after seeing what others do.
Well, I think that “just so” maybe the amount of people’s catch phrase. That’s always means that “leave them alone and forget it.”Actually, plenty of us don’t complaint to the bad service of the department，shop and police. Maybe we believe that will bring us more trouble. What’s more, we feel embarrass about our face.
Long before, the beginner of crazy English put a slogans”I loving lose face” to promote that people to study English without their Face and participate in the class. That’s have a long effect on a lot of English studier.
However, today when we go to the class, the vast majority of people still take their face. It not only make themselves don’t enjoy the class, but also make other people who want to express very embarrass.
Finally, if you want to study English well, speak English well, please forget you face, it’s not as important as you think.
Start say”so so is no”, speak English loudly.
Actually, Chinese people do complain about the imperfect things in our country. Sometimes, complaining did make some progress, but sometimes didn’t.
This article said that for Chinese “Criticism is expected but compliments are taboo and considered embarrassing”. This is not true. We like compliments, and we also say “thank you” to respond the praise from others, and sometimes we say something like “Oh, you are over praise me”.
And there are also some Chinese who want to excel or stand out. In fact, being outstanding is a part of gaining “FACE” too.
So, the “FACE” thing is complicate. Sometimes it pushes people to work hard, but sometimes it stop people from progress.
In my opinion, every phenomenon has its reasons. Well, there are many differences between Chinese culture and those in the west; it must get its reasons, too. To understand Chinese culture better, one must break the stereotype to China and know more about Chinese history, which is the origin of culture.
In the west, people may think face is worthless, at least not as valuable as Chinese do. Indeed, Chinese people value Face a lot, and there is an historical reason. For thousands of years, Chinese live in clusters, kindred is the most important thing for survival. You know, there is no social security or any think like that in the past. Well, the social security system nowadays is not satisfactory enough, neither. In the past, one would be extremely difficult to have a decent life without a big, powerful clan. A businessman will never succeed if his is isolated by the local chamber of commerce. In such an environment, Face is very important, since it represent a person’s status and relationship with others.
For centuries, Chinese society is based on acquaintances and relations, not on contract. China is developing, and contracts, laws and rules are getting more and more important. However, relation (you can also call it Guanxi, which is a word translated directly from Chinese) will still be one of the most important factors to consider while you are doing business. Is Face really worth nothing, of course not! And that’s why Chinese people still tend to keep the Face of other nowadays.
Well, while using English in your course, we don’t need to worry about face. By losing face, we could probably improve our English quicker, which is a really good thing.
Face is special cultural phenomena in China. In English learning face concern really inhibit our improvement. As Li Yang, a Chinese English promoter, said the time you forget your face, you advance your English. Chinese students are so afraid of losing face that we avoid speaking our unskillful English. However, good English comes from practice, so less speaking results in poor oral English. We need to change our attitude to face when study English.
The character of a people is the co-product of the history and the culture, some add weather, the political system et cetera into it. Some say the “so-so” attitude is inherited and originated from Confucianism that has influenced most Chinese people, if not all, since when they were born. Confucianism has its reasons to be powerful. In the ancient times, the Kings propagandized the Confucianism for it has a consciousness of reconciling oneself to the fate, which is in favor of the governing.
Every character has its weakness, so do the one of Chinese people. “So-so” is no longer OK in this developing country where prosperity accompanied by a lot of problems. History is driven by few who dare to say no. And the details “service is extremely poor, the result of apathy, indifference, and incompetence” condition mentioned in the thread can also be changed if more people stand out. If every person doesn’t care the FACE, there is no “losing FACE”. And we will all gain from that.
In the English class, some of the students are not willing to speak English because they think other people will think they are showing off or will laugh at their incorrect pronunciation. But as they have paid the tuition to study, having English without opening the mouth is a waste of money and opportunities. So, every one of us should “leave our face in the dormitory” and treasure the opportunity to improve our English.
From the standard of the article,so-so is not good in fact.But FACE in China has its historic reasons.First ,China is a a country with an ancient civilization for 5,000years long history.Culture is a process of sampradaya.FACE is just one of the most important custom of China’s history.It cann’t be changed in a short period.Second,as a matter of fact,FACE is social morality .It can prevent people from indignity.If FACE is the only reason for China as a developing country,but why China became the most famous country in the ancient time?So the forse is not only the FACE,there are some other factors needed us to study and solve.
If you ask me about the weather at he moment, my answer is not the “so-so” but a bad day. I am expecting for the sunny day. I need sunshine in my life. When it is colder, I am lazier. Actually, the problem is me and the weather is just an excuse. Further more, the NO-NO should become my key word when I did not want to do anything, including keeping the face.
That is a totally awkward question I met in my english study. I care for my face，so I am afraid of speaking in front of so many people.I try some times to encourage myself that there is nothing to be feared ,please trust yourself.But it’t didn’t work at all.My english remain poor .I can understandard chinese people inthis aspect. Asian cultures are said to be more concerned about face-saving than Western cultures. We chinese is concerned about face-saving does not wrong.Face saving refers to maintaining a good self image. People just to avoid the embarrassment of looking bad.I know some people who still believe that a strong personal attack pays off. I don’t. It is dangerous to abuse another person no matter how angry you are or how justified your position.
I agree with the author of the article in some respects. It is true that the idea of “face”have negative effects in the process of English learning,because many stuents are afraid to make mistakes.I think in most of my classmates’opinions, losing face is a damage which will ruin their lives.
But on the other hand,it is precisely because of the appreciate of face that we treat everything seriously. In order to avoid being laughed, we’ll make every effort to complete our work. There are some culture differences between China and America.
China is a developing country in truth, however, all Chinese people will work hard to change that.
Traditionally,Chinese people vaule the face very much.we take our friends,parents ,and anyone we are closed with very importantly,so,sometimes,we donnot lose face in front of them.when we start learning english ,we prefer writting them to speaking loudly,just because we are afraid of losing face.but this doesnot stand for that we chinese will live just as “so so”.we believe we can master our chinese very well,so we have the confidence to do everything best.
Most of us care about our faces which obstruct us to speak English freely. Sometimes “so-so” is only an excuse. After reading the artical above, I consider that we should change our attitude when we are facing problems, and we should try our best to solve them. Just say “no-no” to “so-so” will bring us unpredicted surprise in our lives.
I have complex emotions after reading the above article.Firstly,I have to admit that FACE really exist in China and it becomes a grievous problem which in fact inhibits personal growth and development sometimes.Of course,the reasons are simple and apperent which was described in this article.I am very disappointed about this.But I think this is just a problem,it is not the reason why China remain a developing country.There are so many factors that inhibit China becoming a developed country.Secondly,we could not ignore this problem because it affect the social transformation.Regarding this problem,we can regard it as a culture difference.Chinese always believe that give face to someone is equal to show your respect.Anyone could not deny it.I think most of people do not want to fail in the competence and contaction with others.So we should abide by the survival rules.Finally,I want to say “thanks to my dear professor,thanks for giving so much suggestions to our country,I will try to adopt them”.
EDITOR’S NOTE: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE RIGHT OR WRONG IN OTHERS’ EYES. IT IS YOUR OPINION, STAND BY IT.IT IS YOURS AND YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO IT UNTIL YOU ARE CONVINCED OTHERWISE.
The problem revealed by this article is very serious in China, FACE problem is affecting our behaviors involving in communicate, education, work and any other aspects. You may be laughed at if you do the wrong things, so we are prevented by ourselves because of the face problem. What a pity!
However, Rome was not built in a day. Why do we pay much attention to our face issue? We have to trace the history to ancient dynasty. Our ancestors were taught the doctrine of the mean Confucian, and this doctrine continues today. It tells that it is wisdom man if you do everything in a medium method not radical. That’s my opinion and I don’t know whether it is right or not.
Well, I could’t agree more. “Face”, as we can see in China, is very important. That’s very different to the foreign countries.You may be confused and wonder why people are all so concern about their “faces” . Probably I think, It’s may the result of traditional culture which have affected the Chinese for over two thousands year. That are the ideas Confucius promoted in Chunqiu dynasty which encourage people to be the golden mean. With this ideology pass from generation to generation, it’s greatly influence the people’s idea and now deeply rooted in the mind of Chinese. The most typical example as we can see is the Chairman Jintao Hu, who always keep a low profile but at the same time he can effective governance the whole country. In China, particular in the politics, hardly can an official get promotion if he keep a high profile. people are used to lost in a crowd but not stand out.
After read the above article,I have mixed emotions .First of all ,I have to admit the real things about Chinese face . Of course ,the reasons is simple and apperent which was describe in the above article.To be frankly ,the above reasons are exactly right ,though I feel that too terrible and I have that shortcoming.Secondly , the above page may be different from the real world .Because China has own traditional characters ,and the proverb about face is real too .So , there are a lot of people can not accept the above passage’s thoughts. But I can accept the passage meanings especially as a students and a young man . I told me that I must begin to like losing face and strengthen myself by this. I want to become the winner.
In my opinion, the FACE problem of Chinese people is subject to the Chinese traditional. Confucianism teaches that people should pay attention to “propriety, righteousness, honesty, shame(礼义廉耻）.”Guan Zi，the ancient Chinese philosopher said,”Etiquette is a fundamental system of a society, and shame is a person’s fundamental principle. Propriety, righteousness, honesty and shamet are the four basic elements to maintain the country. If the four elements can not be implemented, then the country is very easy to die.”
And this makes the Chinese people to cultivate the awareness of personal behavior. Chinese are concerned about their own conduct and other people’s view even nowadays. This is the so-called face problem.
Indeed, the FACE can be a big obstacle to the development of an individual, even a country. Most people take it-maintaining the FACE-seriously, since they think it is an act of maturity and can earn themselves respect from the others. In some important occasion, such as a meeting between the country-leaders, a prestigious conference or an Academy Award ceremony, maybe it is acceptable. Yet unless you are a public figure or your whole life is occuppied by those occasions above, you will feel tired mentally and even a hypocrite you’re becoming if you keep doing this. In most of our “normal” time, It is not a bad thing to lose FACE actually. Only you make some mistakes in public can you remember it for rest of your life and never make it twice,; only you take your initiative to work on something with your own ideals and dump the programmed set of thoughts and behaviors can you have a better chance to achieve what the others have never imagine they could manage; Only you swallow your pride and consult the others humbly can you learn and progress a big step forward, which echos the very famous saying,”fools learn nothing from wise men, but wise men learn much from fools”.
So we should not take the FACE with ourselves while learing or desiring success.
A few days ago,the three founders of Internet have been nominated as candidate for the Nobel peace prize.
In my opinion,there are two reasons can explain that Chinese people do not complain about the substandard product or poor service,even do not complain corruption or something evil.
The first is Chinese people have learned that complaining brings you personal trouble.”GuangXi”is very important in China,the person who is complained can revenge you through his “people net work”.
The second is there was no proper method or way for complaining before the internet is popular in China.We can find it thankfully that a doctor who was playing computer game when he was on duty in the hospital has been fired and cancelled of doctor licence after the vedio was posted on the internet .Now,more and more chinese people have the consiciousness of defend for legal right and the Internet provides a proper ,efficient and safe way for complainants.
The internet brings so many benefits for us ,i can not support the founders of internet to win the nobel peace prize more.
Fristly,I agree with you that the service in China is very poor.But this dose not have something with FACE.Facing the poor service,people know that nothing can be changed,even though they stand out.It only brings themselves’s trouble.This is a problem of development.During the process from developing to better,this phenomenon is inevitable.Just as the developed countries,only to a certain stage of development,people begin to pursuit better service.So,I believe that when the development of China become better,this will be changed.
Secondly,I don’t agree that people don’t want to stand out just for fear of losing face.I think they do not fear losing face but losing confidence.In China,people like to tell others they are successful after they have achieved success.Similarly,people tend to have ability and confidence so that they can say they can do.Without confidence,they don’t want to adventure.So,to the inactive people in routine life,to the inactive students in classroom,they just fear of failure and don’t believe in themselves.At this point,the developed countries do better than us,we can learn from them.
After reading the author’s article, I have a few thoughts and feelings, some in favor, some against.
China is a developing country, so maybe the goods, services are low level indeed. But it does not mean that china did not pursue higher-quality products and services. Now, we can even say that, in some ways, the Chinese people attach considerable importance to high-quality products and services, such as Haier, Lenovo……of course, such as the author said, Chinese fear of losing face hindering the pace of development in China. At this point, we should learn form other countries. Just do those they want to do. Love losing face, then we can get progress sooner. China is developing in the era of globalization. I also believe that China will develop better!
Firstly, I agree that caring too much about FACE is a hindering factor in Enlish learning. But as a Chinese, FACE means hornor, respect and the sense of shame, and it cannot be completely thrown away forever. FACE is deeply rooted in the tradition culture of China. Like many other countries in Asia, Chinese culture is a shame-based culture, while the culture in some western countries is guilt-based. Maybe I can say, a Chinese without FACE is horrible and unforgivable, just like he committed a crime but felt no guilty. So, as a English learner, I will try to persuade myself not to be afraid of making mistake in my learning and just speak out boldly; and as a Chinese, I will try my best to make more achievement and keep my FACE.
Secondly, So-so is not good, at least not good enough in my opinion. I think most “so-so” Chinese people didn’t intent to be so-so.They want to be outstanding too, but as in a developing country, their economic status and the level of education don’t allow them to do so. So they need to find another philosophy of life. That’s the so-called “so-so”. Chinese traditional culture advocates moderation and harmony, which seems like have something similar with the “so-so”, but they’re not the same.
I think FACE is a double-edged sword,there are positive sides as well as negative sides.Somebody want to receive other’s recognition,so this inspire people to work hard and study hard,this is the positive sides,about the negative sides,it may cause indiscriminate competition.