Giving 'face' is a Chinese expression for respect and civility. In everyday society, it is common to 'give face' to people, even those you don't like or respect – not exactly fawning, but courteous: frosty but polite, one could say. Face-giving is essential in business relationships, where a single act of disingenuousness can cost years of relationship-building effort.
When you break it down, giving face equals not saying what you really feel.
Recently, in America, a law was proclaimed that underscores the supposed importance of 'face'. In May, 2016, President Obama issued a decree outlawing the words 'Black' and 'Oriental', used to describe those of such origins. The law is ostensibly designed to prevent or eradicate ingrained racism toward such persuasions. 'African American' and 'Asian American' are now the correct terms. This move was heralded in China as an advance toward civility, one that other nations should adopt.
Civility is apparently no longer a social more but a matter of law? Go figure!
True enough: change the words, change the meaning, as in this example. “You have a face that would stop a clock!” - meaning: “You are so ugly clocks break when you look at them!”. Said another way: “When I see you, time stands still” alludes to the clock being stopped (by ugliness), but the sentiment is much less offensive. The logic follows that changing the name of certain races/ethnicities might have the same effect, right?
What has that new law done for America? Since November 9th, when Donald Trump was declared the winner in the presidential race, hate crimes against those of other races have flared: more than seven hundred instances in the past 2 weeks, laws regarding civility notwithstanding. People of racial/ethnic origins other than white are living in fear of attack. In the streets, in schools, on college campuses: no one is safe.
On a college campus in Michigan, a student wearing a hijab was threatened because of her religious garb: “You can't wear that here anymore. Take it off or I'll set you on fire” the accuser said, brandishing a lighter.
Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/13/university-of-michigan-student-wearing-a-hijab-threatened-to-be-lit-on-fire-police-say/
That young man did not wake up, the day after the election, suddenly deciding to harm other individuals because of their beliefs. Such prejudice is ingrained! It takes years of conditioning to arrive at the conviction that one has the right (the duty?) to offend and threaten and harm others because their beliefs are divergent. To believe that one is absolutely in the right, simply because of their race or ethnicity.
Britain has also seen a spike of racially motivated crime since Brexit. Figures show a 41% surge of racist or religious abuse in the months after the UK voted to leave the European union.
Standing at a bus stop, a Brazilian-born man was speaking to his Mexican wife in Spanish when a woman approached them: “Do you speak English? Can you understand what I'm saying? This is our country. We are leaving the EU. We will stop having so many people like you over here.”
Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-37640982
How can mere words change so deep a prejudice? What law can be made to prevent such hate and disdain? How can anybody think that 'face' is going to stop people from hating and fearing what they do not understand?
And that is the danger of 'face'. Not just concealing your feelings from those you wish to direct them to, but the fact that those feelings and ideas are left to fester and grow like the very worst social cancer, eating civilization from the inside out, one person, one family, one generation at a time, and nobody sees it until it explodes onto society, virulent and rampant.
Bernie Noel, a man in Britain who runs prison gyms for the inmates, puts the fallacy of 'face' succinctly: “(... in the 1970s) you knew who the racists were – they were shouting their heads off. Now I look around and think, well some of you are still thinking those things but I don't know who you are anymore.”
Read the article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37924448
And that is the sad truth of 'face'.
In the USA blacks demand all people of other races to call them "African American" Yet they call each other the"N" word everyday.Maybe they should folllow the law. Respect is earned and can not be foreced on you by any law.
The difference is that a Chinese person - like many from other Asian countries such as India - will seek to maintain 'face' in the face (!) of all evidence against what that person has said or done. For example, it a person stole a sum of money they would argue to the ends of the earth that this was not the case, no matter what objective proof was but before them. If eventually they did admit to their fault then they would say that you should not remind them of this act because that would be akin to 'beating them over the head with a stick' - i.e making them lose face once more.
In such situations these people do not want to take responsibility for their actions. If you asked them 'why?' they did or did not do this - such as in the case of the employer you describe - they would reply 'no why'.
A western person would more readily admit their responsibility, account for what has happened, and seek to move on in the light of their admissions. e.g. learn from one's mistakes instead of repeating or ignoring them.
What the hell are you talking about.
And false gods are not gods. And you are confused about the word 'god'. Religion is not to be taken so literally. A man can truly only serve the one true god if he seeks true enlightenment and harmony on earth. The false gods are dead ends or smaller parts of the one true God. Only by following the one true God and obeying universal truth can a man become a Junzi.
"There really are universal truths and Jews are right that there is only one true God/good."
I think that you'd find a few people to argue about this; go into any Buddhist temple in China or elsewhere and you will find a whole pantheon of assorted gods. Even the ancient Greeks and Romans had an array of gods who were kicking around about the same time as the tribes of Israel. As well, many of these ancient religions derived their beliefs from pre-existing pagan religions which worshipped and celebrated the seasons, things in the natural environment, and in the stars and other heavenly bodies. Indigenous Australians, for example, had their own Dreamtime beliefs thousands of years before Old Testament times.
In my opinion most take 'religion' too literally. Confucius was inspired by western Pagans that lived in a virtue based society before the west was christianized so in many ways Chinese society is more in line with the virtue based societies of our western ( Southern. Euro ) ancestors. Modern western society is rooted in the slave morality of Christianity. What is thw Christian God if not 'good'? Isn't saying that there is only one God the same as saying that there is only one good? That there is a universal truth? Confucius is basically saying the same thing right? So even though Confucianism is probably more in line with the thinking of our pre christian western ancestors there are also strong parallels between Confucianism and Catholicism an example is the similarities between Confusion Filial Piety and the Holy Trinity. The thinking is very similar. HolyGhost/Chinese State. Maybe the problem is that you are being too strict in relation to what can pass for 'religion' in your opinion. Football is a religion for many so I do not see why family and morality and harmony cant be religion.
Anyway, when I was a kid I used to like to visit my grandparents on my fathers side a lot because my favourite person used to be my dads youngest brother Uncle Sean. So I would go to my grandparents house as a young kid all excited to see my uncle Sean and not so much my grandparents and if you think about that it is very disrespectful to my grandfather and grandmother especially if I am obvious about it. A reasonable adult will excuse a disrespectful kid that doesnt know better but still. Any civilized western family should make sure that their children have respect for family/elders and order of a situation. It is not odd at all that Chinese encourage children to respect and acknowledge elders/family in the right order and it would have been less odd to our ancient ancestors that lived in a virtue based society rather than the modern slave morality Christian society. If you think about it of course there is an order to how you respect and acknowledge family during a visit unless you are out to disrespect your grandfather or something. Right? It is the same for all people. There really are universal truths and Jews are right that there is only one true God/good.
"this is linked to piety" I thought that piety was mainly about religion and one's adherence to religious principles. Unles you're into the pseudo religious territory of Confucianism was often - for Chinese people - mixes up rules for family, custom, traditions etc. in a type of religious garb.
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