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Introduction
China emerges as a modern-day global economic superpower, the 5,000-year-old culture, and traditions that Chinese people are still practicing today could be one of its barriers to a smooth and effective business relationship with the Westerners. The rich ancient legacy of the great dynasties of the past is still being practiced and being revered, especially with regard to their concept of social relations. Two of these that constitute the Chinese concept of ‘face’ are li and mianzi. Foreigners, especially those who are not familiar with these practices could greatly damage their social relations with the Chinese if they these two separate yet interrelated concepts lightly and haphazardly.
Main text
The Chinese concept of ‘face’ revolves around two of the three important components of Chinese socialization philosophy: li and mianzi. Li (sometimes pronounced as lian) suggests the sense or feeling of ‘proper behavior and obligations to the society.’ Confucius, the famous Chinese sage who taught these concepts, believed that hierarchy in society should be maintained, whether the classification is based on family relationship, seniority, and occupational categories. A person belonging to a particular hierarchy should act and behave in accordance to where he belongs in the Confucian social stratification.
On the other hand, the expectation that, at all times and in all ways, Chinese are “to be treated commensurate with their position in whatever hierarchies they personally occupy” is the essence of mianzi. Chinese people are extremely sensitive, to a point of being hypersensitive, to the treatment of others to them with regards to the diminishment of their position in the hierarchy (Lenard 2006).
Li is a sort of ‘obligations and behaviors’ that Chinese feel is expected to be done by a person belonging to a social hierarchy, whereas mianzi is their reaction to the treatment of others to concerning their position in the social hierarchy.
Mianzi, which literally means ‘face value,’ is still highly valued by Chinese people despite the rapid modernization and increased exposure to different cultures that China is experiencing at present, that even its youth still preserve this in their social interaction. To show how Chinese people still revere these Chinese social principles, in a survey conducted by China Youth Daily that Shan (2005) mentioned in his article, ‘over 93 percent of the 1,150 polled said they pay much attention to their mianzi.’ Also, according to the same survey, brain workers, such as business executives, pay more attention to their mianzi than manual laborers.
The Chinese notion of face that is strange to Western cultures serves as a communication and relationship barrier that could ruin business transactions. So to develop and maintain smooth business communications and transactions with them, Westerners should be sensitive to the cues and details that reflect how the Chinese feel about the entirety of the transaction. This is more difficult than expected because of another trait of Chinese culture. China is a high-context culture. As opposed to low-context cultures, like the Western countries, in China, the meaning of the conversation relies less on the words and more on the surrounding and underlying factors of those words. Thus they may something that may mean differently, depending on the context within which the communication takes place (Gilsdorf 1997 p.2).
A common example of miscommunication between Chinese and Western businessmen is the usage of the word “yes.” In the low-context society of the West, a “yes” means that a person agrees with the statement or gives assertion to what he stated. A yes means a firm decision of agreement with another’s a suggestion. For a Chinese, the context of the conversation is highly important in determining what he means by his ‘yes.’ Most Chinese people would respond ‘yes’ to a question just to keep the conversation going.
By saying this they mean that they are listening to the other person or he is following the flow of the conversation. At certain points, they can even say ‘yes’ and create an illusion that they understand the one they are talking to just to save ‘his or the face’. Chinese people often do this to keep the communication going. A ‘no’ in communication can likely mean that the communication is over.
Conclusion
Because of their sensitivity in losing their face, Chinese people do all they can just to maintain their dignity and respect of and respect to others. It is a privilege for Chinese people to be ‘asked to do something.’ A single nod of their head can mean that they are rude and confrontational or they are condescending to themselves, either of which would ‘lose their face’ (Doing business in China 2008).
References
Gilsdorf, Jeanette W. 1997, Metacommunication effects on international business negotiating in China. Business Communication Quarterly, All Business. Web.
Lenard, David M 2006, Through the Wall A cross-cultural guide to doing business in China, Asia Times, Kowloon Hong Kong. Web.
Shan, Echo 2005, ‘Mianzi’ of Chinese weighs a lot, comes at a price, China Daily. Web.
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