Formosa Neijia posted a clip of some Chinese taiji bigwigs testing each other’s skills at a gathering:
http://formosaneijia.com/2008/04/28/when-taiji-masters-get-real/
With my push hands experience not quite enough to fill a thimble, I watched the vid and read the comments and said Hmmm. But because there were some big names pushing each other, the concept of saving face was mentioned. Normally in push hands we’re not supposed to worry about “losing”, in a sense it’s better to lose well than to win badly. But after you add “Master” to your name, things can change I guess.
Well anyway I put in my two cent’s worth about ‘”face”, speaking more from intuition than knowledge. But having married into a Filipino family I’ve tried to learn about things like Pakikisama (don’t rock the boat); Utan na loob (debt of honor); Hiya (shame); Kapwa (we are one people); Bayanihan (helping one’s neighbor is heroic); etc. As well as habits like it’s preferable to lie to someone, or at least dissemble, rather than risk hurt feelings or worse yet, an uproar. In America we tend to honor honest behaviors (if not painful frankness) but in some cultures, the “truth” is heavily subordinate to the “good”… the common good.
But the topic was China and I belatedly thought to try to educate myself a bit about this whole “face” thing which everybody has heard of, but perhaps have not lived it as an overriding cultural imperative. Good old Google, I found some helpful articles straightaway:
