In this book, Rong Chen provides a thorough discussion of Chinese politeness and argues for universality in politeness theorizing. Based on in-depth analyses, the author dichotomizes Chinese face into Face1 and Face2 – the former referring to the person and the latter to the persona of the speaker – and proposes a model of Chinese politeness (MCP), with the notion of harmony at the center. Chinese politeness thusly conceived – the author argues – should be seen as a cultural-specification of a universal theory of politeness dubbed Brown and Levinson Extended (B&L-E), a model that anchors with Brown and Levinson’s theory but with the incorporation of the notions of self-politeness and impoliteness. The author then applies MCP and B&L-E to the analyses of Chinese politeness, both diachronically and synchronically, and to comparisons of politeness between Chinese and other languages. The results demonstrate that B&L-E is capable of accounting for variation as well as consistency across time and space, differences as well as similarity between linguacultures, and fluidity as well as stability in meaning making in authentic interaction. The monograph hence presents a rare challenge to politeness research and pragmatics, which have emphasized particularism at the expense of universalism.

Chapter 3 is devoted to the notion of Chinese face. Chinese face, Chen argues, is bifurcated into Face1 and Face 2. Face 1, most often represented by lian, the lexeme that denotes the physical face of a person, refers to character, intelligence, morality, ethics, and accomplishment, aspects that identify and define a person. Face2, most often represented by mian(zi), the lexeme that denotes the surface of a person or thing, refers to the way a person appears to or is perceived by others. Face 1 is hence the person while Face2 is the persona (of the person). As such, Face 1 is intrinsic and internal while Face2 is other-facing and interactional; Face1 is gained over time while Face2 can be gained by one act; Face 1 is difficult to regain if lost while Face2 can be re-obtained via corrective actions.