Abstract With the exchange and development of Chinese and the Western culture, cultural conflicts are gradually emerging. Face culture between China and the West is also different. Face culture is an indispensable part of Chinese culture. Chinese people espeacially pay attention to face culture. Face represents all aspects of life and losing face means losing dignity. However, in the Western society, face culture is not so important, which pays more attention to inpidual’s decisions and preferences. When two cultures meet with each other, they will cause many conflicts. By analyzing conflicts and fusion of face culture in the wedding banquet from the persective of gift-giving, wedding banquet, toast-proposing and homosexuality, this thesis gives causes of these differences and help people to save face.59171

Key words: face culture；cultural conflicts；China and the West；save face

随着中西方文化的不断交流和发展，文化冲突日渐显露。中西方的面子文化也大有不同，面子文化是中国传统文化中必不可少的一部分，中国人素来讲究面子，面子代表了生活的方方面面，丢面子就意着丢了尊严。但在西方社会，面子文化却没有那么重要。西方文化中，更注重的是个人的决定和喜好。当中西文化相遇时，会产生诸多冲突，本文通过分别从《喜宴》中的送礼、婚宴、祝酒以及同性恋四个方面分析中西方面子文化的冲突与融合。为中西方面子文化冲突上提供了一定的解决方法。

毕业论文关键词：面子文化；文化冲突；中西方；留面子

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review.. 2

3. Face and Culture4

3.1 Chinese Face Culture 5

3.2 Western Face Culture 5

4.The Emdodiment of Differences Between Chinese and The Western 

Face Cultures—A Case Study of The WeddingBanquet..5

4.1Introduction to the Movie ..6 

4.2 Research on Face Cultures in the Movie...7

4.3 Analysis and Discussion...12

5.Roots for Different Perspectives of Face culture 18

5.1 Chinese Shame Culture.18

5.2 Western Guilt Culture...19

5.3 Chinese Collectivism Culture...20

5.4 Western Inpidualism Culture.20

6. Face-Saving Suggestions..21

7. Conclusion.22

Work Cited24

1. Introduction  

Chinese anthropologist Hu Xianjin first introduced the concept of the face to the West, she believes that face represents a reputation which is of great social importance. Face gains through success and high reputation and is also created by inpidual efforts. In 1955, the American scholar Goffman put the the Western face problem. He believes that interpersonal communication always involves face work. Face permeates into interpersonal behavior that reflects inpidualist and is also the center of security and happiness. In 1978, the British scholar Brown and Levinson put forward the famous Face-saving Theory. He devided face into positive face and negative face. Based on the theoretical study, this thesis emphasizes face cultural differences between China and the West. Face and culture are inseparable. They are important to intercultural communications.

First, it’s helpful to eliminate communication barriers. All ethnic groups have the cultural soil and development history. Different geographical environments, historical backgrounds determine different cultures. Therefore, the face problem is important in cultural exchanges. 

Second, it’s helpful to avoid friction. Due to cultural differences and lack knowledge of cross-cultural communication, Chinese and the Western exchanges may generate new friction. For example, Chinese people want to keep other side’s face through expressing modesty, which may be seen as hypocritical behavior to the Western people. The Western people always express themselves in a direct way, which may be seen as nochalant behavior to Chinese people.