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Face

In Chinese, face refers to 2 separate but related concepts in social relations. One is Mianzi and the other is Lian, which are commonly used in everyday speech. Lian is the confidence of society in a person’s moral character, while mianzi represents social perceptions of a person’s prestige. “Losing one’s Lian” means your behavior violates the social convention. Seniors often caution a young man against losing their lian to encourage him to make every effort and follow conventions. The extent of lian loss depends not only on the seriousness of a person’s or failure, but also on the relation between him and another person. “”Wanting no lian is a stem condemnation, meaning that a person ignores his quality as perceived by the society and is willing to reap private profits at the expense of violating moral standards. The behaviors of such persons cannot be punished through legal means and the public reproval may not be made openly. “Thick lian” is similar to “wanting no lian”, it means the ignorance of public reproval or the youngsters’ defy of the social moal standards as imposed by seniors. “Give mianzi” refers to person A’s actions contribute to person B’s reputation before public, such as praising person B before the public, emphasizing person B’s capabilities, etc.

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