A Study Of Chinese College Students' Concept Of Face And Facework Strategies

"Face"is a common concept in Chinese social life,which is frequently used in Chinese daily life. It plays a significant role in Chinese interpersonal interactions. Understanding the concept of face is a key to understand Chinese people.The study of face started from the 1940s both by foreign and domestic scholars. Up to now, scholars have reached an agreement on many facets of face including the nature, characteristics and functions of face. It is widely acknowledged that the concept of face is not unique to Chinese people. It exists universally in every culture. Most foreign scholars consider face as one's social reputation and fame. While Chinese scholars suggest that including the social aspect, Chinese face is also a moral face. However, these studies are based upon Chinese traditional culture. No research has compared the differences between Chinese youth's concept of face and the old generation's. Growing up in a fast developing environment, will they change their idea of face? In order to answer this question, based on previous researches on face and facework, this paper studies Chinese youth's idea of face and facework strategies by both quantative and qualitative methods.The study includes three parts. The first part generalizes the nature, characteristics and functions of face and facework in Chinese context. The second part is to use questionnaire to get data between two age groups, one is college students, and the other is middle-aged college teachers and clerks. The means of the two groups are compared through T-test. To be more specific, the study also compares the weighted mean in order to find the discrepancy between the two groups. Finally, a case study is carried out to explain how young people use facework strategies in their daily interactions to build up a harmonious relationship with others in their social life.