Cover not available

In:Handbook of Pragmatics: 21st Annual Installment
Edited by Jan-Ola Östman and Jef Verschueren
[Handbook of Pragmatics 21] 2018
► pp. 141–158

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Mianzi/lian

Chinese notions of face

 | Northeast Normal University, Changchun
 | Northeast Normal University, Changchun
Published online: 6 December 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/hop.21.mia1
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Conceptualizations of mianzi/lian in historical literature
    • 2.1Socio-cultural interpretations of mianzi/lian
    • 2.2Culture-specific accounts of mianzi/lian
  • 3.Differentiation of Chinese face from English-based face and politeness
    • 3.1Differences between generalized concepts of face in Chinese and English
    • 3.2Differences in how face relates to politeness in Chinese and English
    • 3.3Differences of positive and negative face in Chinese and English
  • 4.Reinterpreting Chinese mianzi/lian in interaction
    • 4.1Similarities and differences in mianzi/lian representations
    • 4.2Similarities and differences in orientation to the self and others
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (35)
References
Brewer, Marilynn B. and Wendi Gardner. 1996. “Who is this ‘we’? Levels of collective and self-representations.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71(1): 83–93.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, Zhongying. 2006. “脸面观念及其儒学根源 [The conceptualization of lian & mian and its Confucian root].” In 中国社会心理学评论（第二版） [The Critics on Chinese Socio-psychology], 2nd edition, ed. by Xuewei Zhai, 34–47. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Earley, P. Christopher. 1997. Face, Harmony, and Social Structure: An Analysis of Organizational Behavior across Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gao, Ge. 1998. “An initial analysis of the effects of face and concern for other in Chinese interpersonal communication.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 22(4): 467–482.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face to Face Behavior. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gu, Yueguo. 1990. “Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese.” Journal of Pragmatics 14(2): 237–257.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
He, Ming and Shaojie Zhang. 2011. “Re-conceptualizing the Chinese concept of face from a face-sensitive perspective: A case study of a modern Chinese TV drama.” Journal of Pragmatics 43(9): 2360–2372.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ho, David Yau-fai. 1976. “On the concept of face.” The American Journal of Sociology 81(4): 867–884.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hu, Hsien Chin. 1944. “The Chinese concept of ‘Face’.” American Anthropologist 46(1): 45–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Guangguo. 2006. “人情与面子:中国人的权力游戏 [Favor and face: The power game of the Chinese]”. In 中国人的心理 [The Psychology of the Chinese], ed. by Yang Guoshu, 226–248. Nanjing: Jiang Su Education Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ide, Sachiko. 1989. “Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness.” Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 8(2/3): 223–248.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jin, Yaoji. 2006. “‘面’、‘耻’与中国人行为之分析 [An analysis of mian, shame and the behavior of Chinese people].” In 中国人的心理 [The Psychology of the Chinese], ed. by Yang Guoshu, 249–269. Nanjing: Jiang Su Education Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Qing Kinnison. 2017. “Power, integrity, and mask - An attempt to disentangle the Chinese face concept.” Journal of Pragmatics 114: 32–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lim, Tae-Seop. 1994. “Facework and interpersonal relationships.” In The Challenge of Facework, ed. by S. Ting-Toomey, 209–229. New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, Yutang. 1936[2010]. 吾国与吾民 [My Country and My People]. Nanjing: Jiang Su Literature & Arts Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lu, Xun. 1934. “说‘面子’ [On ‘face’].” In 且介亭杂文 [Essays of qie jie ting], ed. by Xun Lu, 128–131. Beijing: People’s Literature Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mao, LuMing Robert. 1994. “Beyond politeness theory: ‘Face’ revisited and renewed.” Journal of Pragmatics 21(5): 451–486.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Yoshiko. 1989. “Politeness and conversational universals: Observations from Japanese.” Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication 8: 207–221.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Driscoll, Jim. 1996. “About face: A defence and elaboration of universal dualism.” Journal of Pragmatics 25(1): 1–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “Face and (im)politeness.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, ed. by J. Culpeper, M. Haugh and D. Z. Kádár, 89–117. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simon, Bernd. 2004. Identity in Modern Society: A Social Psychological Perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, Helen (eds). 2000. Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport Through Talk Across Cultures. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. “(Im)politeness, face and perceptions of rapport: Unpackaging their bases and interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research 1(1): 95–120.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Theories of identity and the analysis of face.” Journal of Pragmatics 39(4): 639–656.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang Jiayi and Helen Spencer-Oatey. 2015. “The gains and losses of face in ongoing intercultural interaction: A case study of Chinese participant perspectives.” Journal of Pragmatics 89: 50–65.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, D. H. and B. L. Gu. 1990.“中国人的情面焦虑 [The Chinese people’s concerns over mianzi and favor].” In 中国人的人情与面子 [Favor and mianzi of the Chinese People], ed. by The Editor Office of Dr. Zhang’s Monthly Journal, 55–93. Beijing: China Friendship Publishing Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, Ning. 2001. “What does our face mean to us?” Pragmatics & Cognition 9(1): 1–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhai, Xuewei. 2004. “人情, 面子与权力的再生产 [Favor, Face and Reproduction of the Power: A way of social exchange in an reasonableness society].” Sociological Research 5(4): 48–57.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. 中国人的脸面观: 形式主义的心理动因与社会表征 [Perspectives on Chinese “face”: Psychological Motives and Social Representations]. Beijing: Peking University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, Ling and Shaojie Zhang. 2013. “表达的明示性: 汉语言文化特性的‘面子’ [The explicitness of ‘mianzi’ in Chinese].” Foreign Language Education 34(3): 22–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. “汉语文化特性的‘积极评价面子’与‘消极评价面子’概念建构:基于身份理论的视角 [Constructing Positively-evaluated Face and Negatively-evaluated Face in Chinese Culture:An Identity Theory-based Approach].” Foreign Languages and Their Teaching 5: 41–49.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “How face as a system of value-constructs operates through the interplay of mianzi and lian in Chinese: A corpus-based study.” Language Sciences 64: 152–166.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, Ruiling. 2006. “中国人的社会互动：论面子的问题 [The social interaction of Chinese: On face].” In 中国人的心理 [The Psychology of the Chinese], ed. by Yang Guoshu, 189–225. Nanjing: Jiang Su Education Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, Arthur. 1894. 中国人的素质 [Chinese Characteristics] 秦悦(译) [translated by Yue Qin]. Shanghai: Shanghai Xuelin Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue