A Review on Mianzi in Interpersonal, Familial, and Business Settings

Face is one of the crucial cultural aspects in Chinese society, which can be separated into mianzi and lian. This article will focus on summarizing the concept of mianzi. It is tied to social occasions that require interpersonal communication between individuals and groups: face culture can be found in both workplaces and individual settings. Face culture is adopted as a primary social principle in China and it plays an important role in affecting the languages and behaviors of Chinese people. Thus, being able to understand the meaning of mianzi and behave accordingly is important for corporations that plan to do business in China and individuals who seek connection with Chinese society or culture in any form. This paper will summarize the most important facets of Chinese face culture regarding its role in interpersonal, familial, and business settings, as they are essential to the understanding of face culture.