The Intricacies of the Chinese Concept of Face

Hsien Chin Hu, who in 1944 authored a piece entitled The Chinese Concepts of “Face,” very aptly writes:

The Chinese concept of ‘face’ reveals criteria by which prestige is gained and status secured or improved. One component of this criteria includes is ‘getting on in life, through success and ostentation.’ The second represents the confidence of society in the integrity of a unit’s moral character, i.e., the act of fulfilling obligations regardless of the hardships involved.

The concept of face, I believe, is of central importance when trying to understand and deal with schistosomiasis intervention (my Fulbright research) as it permeates every level of Chinese society. And as David Ho, author of On the Concept of Face asserts, losing face is a grave offense, which happens when “the individual, either through his action or that of people closely related to him, fails to meet essential requirements placed upon him by virtue of the social position he occupies.” Furthermore, Ho alleges that there is no facet of social life to which the question of face is irrelevant. As such, I contend that this cultural construction may serve as a powerful social motive for government and individual action, as it does in communities where people maintain interdependent construals of self, i.e., they feel “part of an encompassing social relationship… [in which their] behavior is determined, contingent on, and, to a large extent organized by what [they] perceive to be the thoughts, feelings, and actions of [relevant] others in the relationship.” In this context, how would a village schistosomiasis prevention team leader, for example, feel if he failed to mobilize those in his community to fight a disease that was so effectively controlled under the guidance of Mao 30 years earlier? The answer is clear and Kwang-kuo Hwang, author of Face and Favor: The Chinese Power Game would agree, as he writes that, “in Chinese society, the public nature of obligations heavily shapes norms. This pattern is maintained by several forces, regardless of political or economic context.” (The author here uses social exchange theory as the basis for this conceptual framework, which posits that all human relationships can be explained as a process of cost-benefit analysis. In China, it is argued the cost-benefit-analysis seen in the social exchange between parties always includes the concept of face.) To the Western observer, much of this activity may appear coercive in nature. However, as Sidel and Sidel, twin authors of a 1974 book entitled Medicine in China: Individual and Society assert, this activity produces a much different image in the Chinese context: “Where the society rather than the individual is viewed as the basic unit, the actions of any individual are always seen as irrevocably tied to the well-being of the larger group.” Consequently, the study of face and the social dynamic it generates promises to add value not only to schistosomiasis research, but to any behavioral or policy intervention in China.

As I have just attempted to reveal, social behavior in Chinese society, generally speaking, is that of a collectivist culture. One unique structural condition, i.e., the way individuals approach social relations, that is found in Chinese society and culture is known as renqing (人情). This cultural category, or perspective on behavior, emphasizes the “value of maintaining personal harmony and social order among persons situated in hierarchically structured relationships.” Moreover, Chinese not only tend toward positioning themselves hierarchically within social relations, but cherish this position or status.

An important lesson here is that any and all interventions should not overlook the particularly important questions of what is within the realm of possibility for the target population and why is that so. In the case of schistosomiasis prevention and control in China, the concept of face must be considered when trying to understand the behavior of actors, from policy makers to public health practitioners to the villagers living at-risk.