A Culture-specific Study Of MIANZI Representations In Chinese

The classic Politeness-Face model was proposed in 1987 by Brown & Levinson, who defined face as “public self image” and considered it to be a pivotal concept in the Politeness Principle. According to their research, politeness strategies are chosen to protect or mitigate one’s face in face-threatening situations. Relative power, social distance and absolute ranking are the social variables which affect people’s polite behavior. However, due to this theory’s English ethnocentrism widely criticized in the academic world, a range of scholars have conducted critical research on face in terms of its controversial universality. As a result, there has been a shift of focus in study from cross-cultural aspects to culture-specific aspects of face. Moreover, the emic-etic studies on face call for greater attention to the culture-specific properties of face(Haugh, 2012; Culpeper, 2010; Terkourafi, 2009). Therefore, in response to the call, this study aims at conducting a culture-specific study of MIANZI① representations within Chinese culture from an identity-theoretic perspective on the basis of collected data from a corpus, TV drama and questionnaire.The research objective is to understand the representation of MIANZI in Chinese culture, specified as Miànzi② and Liǎn in Chinese social interaction. In light of this research objective, the present study has three research questions:(1) How are Miànzi and Liǎn represened in the Chinese context, and what are the similarities and differences between them?(2) What are the characteristics of MIANZI-representation in Chinese social interaction, and how can these be explained?(3) What are the unique differences between the concepts of Chinese MIANZI and English Face, and how should one define Chinese MIANZI? This study is mainly based on identity theory, which is derived from social psychological approaches. Specifically, it adopts the self-presentation(Schlenker, Portanri, 2000; Schlenker, 2011) and face-sensitivity theoretic perspectives(Spencer-Oatey, 2007) and, thereby, constructs an analytic framework for analyzing self-presentation in relation to MIANZI-representation, sensitive factors and the multi-level properties of MIANZI-representation. Moreover, it further presents a detailed description of the quality-based classification and quantity-based classification of data, respectively concerning the explicit Miànzi and Liǎn representations specified as their collocations, occurring situations, sensitive factors, representation levels and frequency, both Miànzi and Liǎn sensitive factors, different factors in social-cultural-cognitive dimensions, and the cognitive evaluation of the concept of MIANZI based on the multi-resources of data collection. In accordance with the data description, it specially analyzes Miànzi and Liǎn in terms of the interaction between interlocutors, the similarities and differences of Miànzi and Liǎn, their sensitive factors, the properties of the general or unitary concept of MIANZI in Chinese culture, and the affective factors of social, cultural, cognitive dimensions. The results of the analysis provide empirical evidence for exploring the culture-specific representation of MIANZI in China. Finally, the paper discusses theoretical issues concerning the conceptual differences between Miànzi and Liǎn, Pos-MIANZI and Neg-MIANZI① reconstruction, multiple properties of MIANZI- representation and the redefining of the Chinese general or unitary concept of MIANZI from the self-presentation and face-sensitivity theoretical perspectives of identity theory.The findings of the study are as follows:First, the concept of MIANZI in Chinese culture is mainly represented by Miànzi and Liǎn, which are found to have at least 33 verb collocations as far as the data shows. Miànzi and Liǎn can be both social and individual, but with Miànzi tending to be more socially-oriented and Liǎn more individually-oriented. Miànzi and Liǎn are both used to represent individual, relational or collective MIANZI; however, Miànzi is more likely to contain both relational and collective MIANZI, as well as--and especially-reciprocal MIANZI, whereas Liǎn is more liable to be individual MIANZI. It is found that Miànzi is related in most cases to social factors such as social and economic status, social power, social recognition, and public self-image in comparison with Liǎn which is more related to individual factors such as morality, capability, self-esteem, dignity, and emotion. These features indicate that the concept of Chinese culture-specific MIAZNI is distinctive from that of the western concept of Face.Second, Miànzi and Liǎn are represented both as positive and negative MIANZI, but with Liǎn more liable to be negative MIANZI. Positive MIANZI and negative MIANZI in Chinese culture are characteristically different notions from those in the English language and culture. Considering the more self-oriented Liǎn and the more others-related Miànzi, positive MIANZI and negative MIANZI are found to be characteristically unique in Chinese culture. The two concepts can be defined as in the following:POS-MIANZI: an expectation to be positively evaluated, specifically, as being accepted, approved, or satisfied according to social and cultural values.NEG-MIANZI: an expectation not to be negatively evaluated, specifically, as being refused, disapproved, or denied according to social and cultural values.Third, the generalized or unitary concept of MIANZI in Chinese culture can be defined as being constituted of different components such as public self-image, self-esteem, vanity, dignity, capability, social status, and social power(MIANZI= C1, C2, C3…Cn). Its composition works like a cluster of concepts anchored to a person’s identity and evaluated in social interaction according to social and cultural values. Any attempt to define it in terms of one of these concepts would certainly fail. It is neither the “public self-image” nor “self-image” as defined in English cultures(Goffman, 1955; Brown & Levinson, 1978, 1987).Fourth, MIANZI in Chinese culture is multifaceted in nature. It is characterized by explicit representation, the unity of the id, ego, and super ego, the transmissibility of the cultural gene, interpersonal reciprocity, and the plurality of affecting factors.In conclusion, the present study proves that MIANZI in Chinese society is culture-specific. Thus, the classic Face-Politeness model is not applicable in explaining MIANZI and MIANZI-WORK in Chinese society. It also calls for an in-depth study from different approaches of MIANZI and MIANZI-WORK in order to construct the corresponding theoretical model.