Understanding China: Face Trumps Truth

Do not underestimate the importance of understanding the Chinese perspective.  Your life will be more and more dominated by it as time goes by.

Those of us who did not grow up in China inevitably get China wrong again and again.  Policy makers, ambassadors, businessmen and women are often confounded by the Chinese world and cannot understand why things unfold as they do.  Stories abound of business dealings gone wrong with the clueless foreigner leaving China perplexed as to why it all derailed.  This especially plagues those of us from western civilizations.

An understanding of a few concepts can vastly improve relations with the Chinese people.  The Chinese perspective is significantly different from that of the West in a few key ways.  One of the most important concepts is usually referred to as "face".  "Losing face" essentially means being embarrassed or looking bad in front of other people. "Saving face" means making sure you don't embarrass someone.  "Giving face" means to make someone look good in the presence of others. 

Of course, to some extent, we all care how we are perceived by others, however this is taken to an extreme degree in China.  Read the following statement with care as it is crucial to operating successfully in the Chinese world: honesty and truth are not as important as harmony and saving face.  

This statement cannot be over-emphasized.  In the West, we place enormous value on the truth and honesty.  While these qualities are considered positive in China, they are much lower on the list than maintaining harmony.  The key to maintaining harmony is never to make someone lose face.  Saving and giving face are of immense importance to the Chinese, so much so that it is socially expected that you will lie and give face rather than be honest if it means embarrassing someone.  

A simple example will help explain how this concept colors every aspect of life.  Years ago, shortly after I began living in China, I travelled to the western part of the country.  One time, as I was stepping onto a public city bus, the driver waved me away, indicating I could not ride on the bus.  When I asked why, he said there were no seats.  I looked and saw multiple open seats.  Plus, if you have ever been on a bus in China you know that, if there is room to stand, there is room for you.  I pointed this out to the driver, who just kept repeating that there were no seats.  I stood there shocked as the bus driver closed the doors and drove away.

After sharing this with Chinese friends, I learned that the bus went to an area where foreigners were not allowed without a special permit.  This would be rather uncomfortable for the driver to explain to me and might make one or both of us feel embarrassed and lose face.  In order to preserve harmony, the driver came up with a lie which would keep either one of us from an uncomfortable face-losing situation.  By doing so, he kept the peace.

While truth and justice are trumpted in the western media, in China you hear about harmony.  Whether or not you agree with this, it is deeply a part of Chinese society.  An awareness of the importance placed on "face" in China is crucial to successfully engaging with and exploring this country which contains twenty percent of all humanity.

No Megaphones, Rabbits, Umbrellas or Handicapped People Allowed!

As I rode up the escalator to the largest supermarket in town, I saw this sign.  Being that the escalator does not pause to give you a moment to process the details of this sign, you can only assume that you had better be on your best behavior in this supermarket.

At the bottom of the escalator I had to put my backpack inside one of their security bags which they locked and would re-open when I left.  Once I got to the top of the escalator, the employee standing at the top frantically told me to put my pen in pocket.  I had in my hand a pen and a sticky-note on which I had written my grocery list.  I stared in confusion at her and, before I realized that she was talking to me, she guided my hand holding the pen into my pocket.  She explained that they sold pens here and I couldn't have mine out while in the store.  I showed her the English writing on the pen (I apparently got the pen from a bank somewhere in the US), but she wouldn't have it.  Her eyes darted around.  She acted like a prison guard who was letting a prisoner sneak in a bit of contraband.

As far as the photo above, the first row contains pictures of three acceptable behaviors: carrying a baby while riding the escalator, holding onto the rail and standing on the right side of the escalator (on an interesting side note, escalators are usually laid out in the opposite way as in the US, with the left side going up and right side going down).

The sign included some obvious prohibitions such as no playing with fire in the store, no smoking, no outside food and no spitting on the ground (still quite the issue in many places in China).  We are told not to play on the escalator, push children in strollers up the escalator, make loud noises or use video recording equiptment inside the supermarket.  Pets are not allowed and, for some reason, somebody decided that the animal which would best represent pets was the rabbit,  not the dog or cat.  You may protest that dogs and cats are also food for some.  Well, many Chinese also eat rabbit, so that argument doesn't explain it.  

Contrary to how I first interpreted it, handicapped individuals are in fact allowed into the store, they are just not permitted to use the escalator.  There is no elevator, so I guess they have to try their luck with the stairs.  Wet umbrellas are not allowed into the store either.  And, finally, we are reminded to take good care of our valuables.

Being a foreigner in China, I am often treated somewhat leniently, usually because it is assumed that I don't understand the rules or people don't want to try to explain them to me.  This time, however, I wasn't allowed to use my pen in the store.  Upon leaving, as I was walking onto the elevator, I noticed it had been raining and that person after person was entering the supermarket with dripping wet umbrellas, a clear prohibition! 

As I went down the escalator, I thought to myself, "maybe next time I will try bringing in a rabbit in a child's stroller and record the whole thing!"