ABSTRACT
The question of ‘face’ may be understood in various ways. It has long been asserted that one of the differences between the cultures of East Asia and those of the West is that the former is concerned with ‘face’ or social standing and prestige whereas the latter is more ‘guilt’ orientated. Typically, today’s Chinese spokesmen on foreign affairs refer to the period of foreign invasion and modern penetration of their country as the century of ‘shame and humiliation’. Another way in which the concept of ‘face’ has been applied to the Chinese is as a mask, behind which the person’s true identity is concealed. Bette Bao Lord, the wife of the American ambassador in Beijing in the late 1980s, used her appearance as an ethnic Chinese and her excellent command of the language to interview many Chinese people about their experiences. She concluded that the Chinese had become so accustomed to hiding behind successive masks that they were no longer sure of their true identity.1 In this chapter I shall argue that perhaps the same is true of the manifestations of Chinese nationalism.
