On saving face : a brief history of western appropriation  On Saving Face: A Brief History of Western Appropriation 

• Product Details

  Product #

  2566657B

  Author(s)

  Keevak, Michael

  City

  Hong Kong 

  Country

  Hong Kong 

  Language

  English 

  ISBN

  9789888754281 

  Date of Publication

  2022 

  Publisher

  Hong Kong University Press  

  Cover Type

  Hard cover 

  Pages

  124 

  Subject

  Sociology

   

• Product Details in Original Language

  Author

  Keevak, Michael

  Publisher

  Hong Kong University Press  

• Description

  On Saving Face: A Brief History of Western Appropriation In On Saving Face, Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept of “face” during the past two hundred years, arguing that it has always been linked to nineteenth-century colonialism. “Lose face” and “save face” have become so normalized in modern European languages that most users do not even realize that they are of Chinese origin. “Face” is an extremely complex and varied notion in all East Asian cultures. It involves proper behavior and the avoidance of conflict, encompassing every aspect of one’s place in society as well as one’s relationships with other people. One can “give face,” “get face,” “fight for face,” “tear up face,” and a host of other expressions. But when it began to become known to the Western trading community in China beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was distorted and reduced to two phrases only, “lose face” and “save face,” both of which were used to suggest distinctly Western ideas of humiliation, embarrassment, honor, and reputation. The Chinese were judged as a race obsessed with the fear of “losing (their) face,” and they constantly resorted to vain attempts to “save” it in the face of Western correction. “Lose face” may be an authentic Chinese expression but “save face” is different. “Save face” was actually a Western invention.