Over the two months I've been living in China, I've heard the term "saving face" several times. The definition, at least how I understand it, is that being embarrassed in front of others is something to be avoided at all costs. The only way I could relate is to my American culture in which being embarrassed is not a very fun experience. To my surprise, I realized that the relation was not very accurate at all. Yesterday, as I was walking home from the food store, I passed two cars facing each other in a one way street. It'd only take about fifteen seconds for either car to move out of the way but instead, to save face, the occupants of both cars sat and did not move. I only got to watch for about two minutes but in that time neither car moved. Makes me wonder what things we do and how the rest of the world views them.
August 1, 2011
Better Late Than Lose Face
Over the two months I've been living in China, I've heard the term "saving face" several times. The definition, at least how I understand it, is that being embarrassed in front of others is something to be avoided at all costs. The only way I could relate is to my American culture in which being embarrassed is not a very fun experience. To my surprise, I realized that the relation was not very accurate at all. Yesterday, as I was walking home from the food store, I passed two cars facing each other in a one way street. It'd only take about fifteen seconds for either car to move out of the way but instead, to save face, the occupants of both cars sat and did not move. I only got to watch for about two minutes but in that time neither car moved. Makes me wonder what things we do and how the rest of the world views them.