A Comparative Study Of Facework Between Chinese "Li" And Western Individualism

Face and facework have been employed in interculture communication widely, and play very important roles in interculture communication , while the using style and principle vary a lot according to different culture backgrounds. The current study aims at distinctions of facework employment between Chinese and western culture, and leaning towards mixing. The discussion mainly focus on the followings: (a) the analysis of characteristics of traditional"li"culture; (b) Chinese concept of"face"in"li"culture; (c) individualism in American culture; (d) individualism in Chinese communication;(e)the acceptance of"li"in American concept of face. What is really new in this study is to find out new tendency of mixing of"face"concepts in Chinese-Western communication.The differences in facework employment can be found through comparative analysis, further more, to find ways of mixing and understanding for each other through the analysis of cultural roots, and to make it easier to have a command of facework principle, and to benefit from mutual understanding.