🍋 The Cult of "Face" in Asia - Your Ultimate Guide
[The first part of this article explains the concept of “face” common to most Asian cultures, and the second part expands specifically upon Chinese cutthroat mentality].
A fundamental aspect of Asian culture distinguishes it from the West: the concept of “face”.
"Face" consists in always trying to save appearances during any form of human exchange, and this behavior is at the core of all human relationships in Asia.
While Westerners attach little importance to “losing face”, in Asian societies, it is seen as something to avoid at all costs.
The Asian concept of “face” is associated to “reputation”, “prestige”, ‘’status’’, to an important social image.
It is this concept of “face” which explains the constant bickerings over trifles, the culture of lies, the hollow social rituals and other inefficiencies — it is all based on the need to “give face” and avoiding to “lose face”.
This is because Asian cultures are based on the idea of “shame” in front of your social group, rather than actual guilt based on higher moral principles.
It is therefore okay to lie and cheat your way through life, as long as you don’t get publicly caught and “shamed”.
Survival in an Asian society depends greatly on the external image that you project to others. Hence Asians protect this external image very fiercely and might even commit suicide if their “face” is damaged beyond repair.
🍋 What is "losing face"?
Asians are very thin-skinned, and every word, gesture and facial expression of yours is scrutinized to be interpreted as a “gain” or “loss” of face.
Thus they spend a lot of effort to avoid “embarrassing” situations.
The smallest criticism is interpreted as a grave insult. Constructive criticism is not understood in Asia
Challenging people in any way is seen as “disrespect”
Never criticize anyone in front of others (everyone would “lose face”)
Do not voice your personal opinions. Asians do not have personal opinions, they only repeat platitudes and common collective beliefs
Even a common sense remark or a simple suggestion could durably destabilize a relation
You even have to avoid any negative vocabulary, such as the word “mistake”
If someone is wrong and you know they are wrong, you need to give them a way out. It is a big deal to be wrong in Asian societies. Only people “below” you can be wrong. People “above” you can't be wrong.
Ignorance is any domain is seen as a “shame”, instead of just admitting that they just don’t know something
Example 1: If one mentions to you proudly that he’s been to France, and you correct him by showing him he’s wrong (“No, Médoc isn’t located in the south-east of France”), you will make him “lose face”.
Example 2: Once a Chinese businessman visits a winery in Europe. After the visit, he asks “How much does he sell his company?”. The European owner answers that it’s not for sale. Discomfort on the Chinese side, their boss had “lost face”.
According to Asian mentality, the partner should not have given a categorical answer, and rather replied something vague along the lines of “All depends on the price, ha ha ha”, or “That’s something we can talk about again later”.
In other words, you never contradict them, you just “beg to differ”.
In general, stating any form of raw truth, no matter how innocuous, is likely to be seen as “an insult” and a “loss of face”.
Example 3: If your work suggestions are crap, but you're my boss so I can't tell you to your face they're crap, during the meeting I might say, "Hey, boss, those are some great ideas. I actually read an article out of the Stanford Business School last week, and I figured if we combine that with your idea and do [literally the opposite of what you just said] we'd definitely improve productivity in the office!"
Therefore:
1. I don't shoot down your idea directly.
2. I still give you face (praise) by saying I am "using" your ideas; and
3. Everyone at the table understands that since the suggestion has nothing to do with your original idea, I'm trying to say we might want to go a different way, without directly confronting you.
READ ALSO: Critical observations about East Asian mentality
🍋 What gives “face”?
To “give face” to your interlocutor is the prerequisite for all relations in Asia.
It is also pretty easy to do:
Treat them with all kinds of exaggerated marks of ''respect''
Be generous in public praise and compliments
Mention explicitly the “title” of your interlocutor in your conversations (“Sir”, “Uncle”, etc and never by their first name alone)
Never contradict them in public
Systematically communicate in an indirect manner, in order to avoid any disagreement or conflict
Greet first the most important person of the group and only then the other ones.
Do not offer gifts of same cost to persons having a different “social status”
Humor is accepted only when it is impersonal and gratifying
This is how Asians seem so polite and polished in public: they are constantly buttering each other's hole.
In Asian “face” culture,
to be able to do something that others cannot do and
to receive public compliments
are the two best ways towards social prestige and “face”.
That is why you will often seen tangible tributes like diplomas and awards proudly displayed in Asian homes, offices, etc. It shows public social approval.
They love formalities, titles, social rituals, and all the solemn and rigid things that make one feel “high status”.
In a hive-society, “face” is not only an individual concept
Upsetting someone in the West, is generally only undermining his own person.
However, in Asian societies, you have to include a social aspect to it, as the individual always identifies with his group:
If you criticize anything about their government, they will feel personally offended. The Asian sees himself, his family, his country and his leader as being united, like a hive. No criticism is allowed.
They can’t comprehend that the citizens and the government are two different things. Instead, they will take it personally, as they perceive it as an attack against their hive.
Asians constantly betray each other over petty trifles, but if an outsider criticizes their hive, the whole hive will turn against the outsider.
🍋 An inflated sense of pride and “dignity”
The leaders of Asian countries are — or want to be — seen as “the Father of the nation”, a pompous demigod that is above all criticism.
In general, they seem to only understand family-based analogies. “The family” is their frame of reference in everything. Even the state is seen as a kind of extended “family”.
They can feel very easily “offended” at the smallest things. Chinese in particular use the expression “You scratched my heart” at the slightest criticism.
Even the Chinese government frequently uses the expression “Hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” in official communiques.
This ultra-sensitivity to criticism has been called the Chinese Glass Heart, but you find it enormously in Southeast Asia as well.
China even banned comparisons of the Chinese dictator with Winnie the Pooh
🍋 “Hurt feelings”
A lot of individuals, companies and governments have been officially accused by the Chinese government - in all seriousness - of “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people”.
‘You should consider our feelings’: for Chinese students the state is an extension of family
China seeks to criminalize ‘hurting the feelings’ of its people
Beijing threatens Canada with ‘grave consequences for hurting feelings of Chinese people’
“Hurt feelings” — A crash course on how to apply China’s “basic principles of doing business”
And it goes on and on… They never grow out of it.
They are so used to apply censorship that they do not know how to react with outsiders used to free speech.
They wear their big pride on their sleeve, and get “offended” like an old biddy at the smallest hints of critical thinking.
And it’s not just China. For example, Indonesia recently passed has a whole law (ITE law) penalizing anything which could “hurt the feelings” of the locals.
🍋 Insular mindset
Asian societies seek to withdraw onto themselves as much as possible and avoid confrontation with differing opinions and inconvenient truths.
Self-censorship is present in all Asian countries: in Thailand (can’t talk about politics, king or religion), in Indonesia (people can’t take any criticism, they want to be praised all the time), Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.
Their lives are full of taboos, unsaid things, things that upsets them very easily.
Everywhere in Asia you will encounter the exact same problem of authoritarian attitudes, sweeping anything “embarrassing” under the carpet, denying the most basic truths, and worrying about their external “image” more than about the actual reality of things.
The average Asian is typically uncomfortable around outsiders, because these foreign devils are insensitive to their in-group games of social “shame” by which they control each other, and do not really care about the concept of “social status”, especially when it is not well-deserved.
It’s all about “face”, self-image and pride
Example: Do not mention that their city is polluted and highly corrupt, even if their city is obviously polluted and highly corrupt. They will constantly complain about it among themselves, but if an outsider states the obvious, it is seen as “an insult”.
You are expected to pretend that you don't see everything that is going on and insist on the positive aspects only. And do it with a fake smile.
Which often means that every conversation is limited to talking about how great their food is, and other empty topics.
“Food and Photos” insanity
The intake of food is the center of Asian social life, since that's the only totally consensual thing where you don't risk to upset anyone.
Whatever they are doing outside of eating incurs the risk of bickering. So they love bounding around food. Sharing food is always the lowest common denominator.
Taking photos of every trite little thing is their second most-favorite way of socializing without risking any “loss of face”.
Picture of an Asian taking a picture of Asians taking pictures of food
READ ALSO: Why do Asians take photos all the time?
🍋 Self-deprecating humor and irony do not exist in Asia
Almost every aspect of life is somehow imbued with a sense of solemnity and obsequious deference to whoever seems to have a bit more money or power.
They do not have a culture of equality and casual interaction.
They all take themselves very seriously, and things like authority figures, government, business leaders etc expect to be treated with utmost deference to their “face”.
They love pomp and ceremony and hate dissent or criticism, no matter how mild.
Which often makes it entertaining to make fun of the local “elites” and ridicule their inflated sense of pride.
Here is for example a video of the former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin throwing a fit like a small child after being asked an open question by a Hong Kong journalist.
The dude is so used to authoritarianism that he cannot even answer to a straight question without losing self-control.
Over-the-top shiny uniforms and “prestigious” attitudes hide a murky culture of systemic corruption and lies
This is also why when you visit an government office or even a bank office in Asia, they still expect you to dress conservatively.
For them, these are “respectable” institutions that need to be taken seriously. The dude behind the desk is usually very proud of his uniform and “status”.
Indonesian “dress code” sign at the immigration office — You are expected to “not wear sandals nor miniskirts”, in a dingy government office where everything is pathetically inefficient, and where a clown in uniform loaded with fantasy insignia, with an official salary of $500/month is driving a Mercedes... “Face”, pride, costumes and useless formalities are always seen as more important than logic and efficiency
🍋 In Asia, truth is seen as “an insult”
To speak out a simple truth in public — that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in the West — is the surest way to make everybody in the room “lose face”, given that their whole lives revolve on an inflated sense of “dignity” and on a thick web of lies and fake appearances.
In an Asian society, nothing is based on truth, but on the need to protect everybody’s vanity, ego and pride.
It is therefore a fragile system that could always be manipulated to one’s advantage by any reasonably intelligent person.
The good side of the Asian mentality is that they are pretty easy to manage
Asians are ultra-sensitive to the slightest criticism, but they are also ultra-sensitive to the slightest praise.
They genuinely seem to relish in obvious ass-kissing and brown-nosing
It is therefore easy to manipulate them, by playing on their vanity and thirst for recognition.
They do not understand second-degree and irony. Hence, a compliment that would sound hypocrite and fake in the West, is usually taken literally.
They can’t dissociate reality from the superficial appearances. Their lives are a constant game of smoke and mirrors.
It is therefore easy for a non-Asian to artificially boost his perceived “social status’’, since they are very easily impressed by “status” items and luxury, like fancy clothes, a gold watch or any other type of that clunky jewelry that you often see sold in airports, renting a room in a big hotel, and all that show-off that impresses third-worlders in general, and to which most educated and self-confident people are usually indifferent.
In Asia, every dissenting opinion is - hilariously - seen as “an insult”, which means you can never have a honest, open conversation without having them feeling “offended” at the slightest things. They only understand the culture of “sweet talk” where you have to protect their sensitive little feelings at all times.
🍋 Asian ultra-sensitivity
Asians are ultra-sensitive to a lot of small things that Westerners don’t even notice.
Every movement, every word of yours is carefully observed, over-analyzed, to try to establish a “hierarchy” between people.
They live in a constant psychological and social quagmire, and can never release their attention, even between friends.
BTW, Asians never have real friends
They are all ready to screw and stab each other in the back at the first opportunity, and for the most petty things.
Therefore, they can only rely on their family. That is why “family” is the center of Asian life.
It’s not that they like their family that much, but they simply know that anyone else will stab them in the back at the slightest opportunity.
🍋 Asia is a female culture
If you have any understanding of female psychology, you will do well among Asians.
Interacting with them is very close to being in a group of women, where:
Truth doesn’t matter
Factual accuracy doesn’t matter
Conversations do not have to lead anywhere
… and the most important is to pat each other in the back, before plotting a backstabbing right after.
Reliance on gut feelings
Since they are used to constant lies, they do not listen to actual words, but rather try to “feel” you instinctively, and through this habit, are very perceptive of the smallest changes in your emotional or mental state, in a rather female, instinctual manner.
This reliance on “gut feelings” is probably where the stereotype of the “unscrutable Asian” comes from.
In general also, you will find that Asians value interdependence (a female characteristic) over independence.
A simple advice: treat Asians the way you treat women, and you will get along well with them.
🍋 “Face'' is very used in marketing and business
When selling a product or service in Asia, no one cares if your product is technically good or not.
What matters is to present it as something that will give them “face” in front of their peers. You have to promise a gain in social importance to the clients.
It’s all about reinforcing their “face”, and never about the actual benefits of the product.
They care so much about reputation that they would spend money they don’t have to impress people they don’t like, putting lots of effort into ‘appearing’ a certain way.
“What will people say?” is a constant worry in collectivist societies.
In such cultures, people lack personal boundaries and are all in one another’s business, to the extent of people being persecuted for being different.
In shame cultures, it is what people think of you that matters first and foremost.
🍋 The kowtow and the “Oriental Despot” mentality
Another key point to succeed in business is to kowtow to the leaders.
Many a foreign company has lost years and millions of dollars by not understanding this, and trying to logically demonstrate the technical advantages of their product over the competition.
While in reality all you must do is to flatter the local decision-maker until he accepts to divert his company's or government's budget into your product.
It has nothing to do with the quality of your product.
Asians leaders still have this feudal mentality, where they want you to make them feel important and show them enough deference first (plus bribes of course) by kissing their ass over and over, before they “princely” grant you any favor.
It is just as much about pride than it is about the money. They want to feel like a small “lord” to whom you have to pay tribute.
The kowtow in China was traditionally the act of supplication made by an “inferior” to his “superior” by kneeling and knocking his head to the floor.
The word kowtow came into English in the early 19th century to describe the bow itself, but its meaning soon shifted to describe any abject submission or groveling.
You can still see remnants of this in Southeast Asia, among the Javanese, the Thais and others, where the locals will show obsequious deference to their leaders.
Every Asian boss wants to feel very important - the “Little Emperor syndrome”
🍋 "Face" is always more important than solving a problem
The people in power want to take credit for everything good that happens, as this boosts their "face".
If you find a new solution and do a great job, you will get destroyed, as that would mean a "gain of face" for you and a "loss of face" for the local honcho.
Therefore, no one has any incentive to apply actual solutions, unless it can help some local leader to take credit for it.
If you really want things to move on, you will have to suggest the solution to the boss in an unassuming, indirect manner and let him take credit for it.
Even in more evolved Asian societies like Hong Kong, it still works like that.
And there's no one to report the abuses to, as the higher-ups all have the same mindset.
It runs deep in the Asian psyche: the wish to to be an uncontested dictatorial leader surrounded by sycophants and yes-men.
The way Kim Jong Un behaves in North Korea is not unique to his system.
It is how every family, every community and every shophouse in Asia functions.
Everything is micromanaged by an insecure little boss that doesn't want to be challenged in anything, or to even receive a suggestion from anyone.
When they are in a position of authority, they only want to be praised all the time, everyone should strictly agree with everything they say, no matter how wrong it might be.
Anything less is seen as “disrespect”.
“Xi Jinping’s Thought”: “One country, one people, one ideology, one party, one leader” (aka Small Dick Energy)
This is what gives us the culture of constant lies, dissimulation and sweet talk that prevails all over Asia. Every leader imagines himself as “the bestower of boons and wisdom” in his community and requires exaggerated marks of “respect”.
They only believe in top-down management where the boss gives psycho-rigid orders that should be obeyed unconditionally.
If you don’t obey, they throw a hissy fit:
“ONLY ONE DECISION-MAKER!”
“JUST OBEY! DON’T ASK QUESTIONS!”
“JUST DO AS YOU ARE TOLD TO DO! YOU ARE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO THINK!”
“WHEN YOU WILL BE THE BOSS YOU WILL TALK! MEANWHILE JUST OBEY!!!”
Instead of empowering people by sharing knowledge to build a stronger team, they believe in keeping others groveling in ignorance, so as to maximize their own personal comparative advantages.
The leader would rather have the whole team lose, than having himself losing "face" and influence.
"There seems to be a rigid singularity in their mentality and train of thought. It seems that East Asians view things from a 2-dimensional thinking pattern [...] They have this obsessive propensity to control and correct others. […] Very strict, anal-retentive and militaristic in living and pushing upon others their black-and-white view of what’s “right” and “proper”, even in little things" - Winston Wu - Critical Observations about East Asian Mentality
READ ALSO: Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power - Download here
Now let's move on to the specifically Chinese aspects of “face” culture:
II. Chinese cutthroat mentality
🍋 Money is the Chinese religion
Most cultures always had principles above money, while in Chinese culture, money is literally what holds as their religion.
It is a low-testosterone culture which has basically no principles outside of money and “family values”, and where the merchant class is seen as prestigious.
This is unlike Japanese, Indic and Western societies, where traditionally the merchants were held way below the aristocracy and the priestly cast.
Therefore, a Chinese business owner sees himself as some kind of elite.
According to this mentality, “being rich” in Chinese society affects everything and even determines how authoritative one’s opinions are.
Only the rich can afford to emit an opinion, and all others submit slavishly. "How can you be right about something when you don’t have the money or status to back it up?" is how they think.
The supreme purpose in life for a Chinese is to show that they are financially rich.
That’s why the “battle to pay the bill” is a classic scene that you can observe in Chinese restaurants.
Another consequence of “face” culture is ordering to many foods. Empty dishes would mean that the food was not enough and would therefore occur a “loss of face” for the host and show his lack of generosity.
“Saving face” is therefore considered more important than not wasting food and resources.
“Saving face” is always more important than efficiency or any logical considerations.
A lot of time and energy is thus wasted in laborious attempts to make sure no one “loses face”, which can be very irritating to foreigners trying to get things done as efficiently as possible.
A funny taste for the solemn and grandiose
🍋 A cutthroat obsession with “power” and “prestige”
”Face”, power and “prestige” are so important to the Chinese, that Mao Zedong, who killed more people than Stalin, is still viewed by them not as a criminal, but as a “successful” person.
The same goes with Hitler, who is widely seen by most Chinese as simply “a successful man”.
In their thirst for power and prestige, the Chinese therefore manage to admire both Hitler’s power and the Jews’ financial success.
For them it’s all one and the same: to attain a position of social preeminence, and abuse it to exploit others.
Nothing matters to a Chinese other than tangible material benefits. Ideologies and principles are of no concern to them.
"The single biggest misconception is that you have a wicked government and a good people. The Chinese have had 3,000 years for the government and the people to shape each other.
The institution in the West that most closely resembles the Chinese system is, in fact, the Sicilian mafia. You have a capo di tutti capi who prevents the other capi from killing each other."
- David P. Goldman, economist, mathematician, investment banker and writer at Forbes
🍋 Lack of empathy and compassion
The Chinese are notable for their absence of empathy towards other human beings outside of their immediate family members.
They are especially pitiless towards people considered as being of a lower “social status”.
Due to their innate selfishness, concepts such as Open Source cooperation, self-help forums and similar concepts have no equivalent in Chinese culture, since you need contributors for such things to function.
In their society, there are no contributors, everyone only worries “What’s in it for me?”
They live in a constant bum-rush (“hurry, hurry, hurry”) motivated by a scarcity mentality that constantly reinforces itself, since everybody in their society believes in that scarcity-based worldview.
The Chinese seems to have no emotions, except a primitive attachment to ''my children'', ''my money'' and ''my face''.
Just like the Mohammedan only respects brute force and the application of violence, the Chinaman only ever respects money and social domination through games of ''social status'‘.
In both cases, these cultures never respect fairness and honesty, and only interpret it as weakness, to be taken advantage of.
“The Chinese see kindness only as weakness and thus can never respond to any type of positive reinforcement. For every Chinese, from highest to lowest, all the acts of life are concentrated upon extracting, from those who mean nothing to him, what he can for the benefit of himself and his clan."
- Ralph Townsend, “Ways that are Dark: the Truth about China”
🍋 The “Napoleon complex”
If the Chinese seem so polite externally, it’s simply because they don’t have a choice.
It hides their immense vanity and jealousy, and their secret will to dominate others at all costs, due to deep-seated feelings of insecurity.
In other words, the “Napoleon Complex”.
If they wouldn’t be so hypocritical towards each other, they would simply be constantly at each other’s throats, because their ego, pride, “dignity” and “face” has been wounded by the slightest things.
As soon as you have a group of 3 Chinese, they will start making a plot of 2 in order to stab the third one.
[…] The worst of their deficiencies is their treacherous disloyalty. They seem ever prone to work against one another rather than cooperatively, though they are very fond of membership associations expressing a theory of cooperation, but never achieving it.”
- Ralph Townsend, “Ways that are Dark: the Truth about China”
READ ALSO: “You will never be China's friend”
🍋 A game of smoke and mirrors
Chinese intelligence consists essentially in shrewdness, dissimulation and mimicry.
Example: Pretending to enjoy wine gives you a massive boost in “status lah”.
Chinese are unable to tell the difference between champagne and sparkling white wine, yet they will happily spend $5,000 on a bottle of branded champagne.
The label and price tag on it is all what matters in their “face” culture.
So if you are in the business of selling expensive alcohols, you could easily out-chinese them by pouring a substitute liquid in the bottle instead.
They won't tell the difference anyways. The only thing that matters to them is the bottle, the label and to show their hive that “We are splurging on an expensive bottle”.
In case they'd notice that the liquid inside is not the same, they will never admit it, out of fear of “losing face”.
Furthermore, in the Chinese mentality, if it comes from a brand that has built enough “face”, it can't ever be wrong!
So, do not send any more quality products to China, it’s all wasted on them.
All they are after is the label and “prestige” associated with your bottle, so just send them labeled bottles with a substitute instead.
🍋 The Chinese hive-mind: striving to be alike
Because of their hyper-conformism and uncreativity, the Chinese will always seek to emulate things coming from the West, since they can’t make a quality product without cheating and cutting corners. They are eternal seconds, eternal followers.
They also can’t invent new social concepts. They are absolutely subordinated to group dynamics and collective belief systems.
While a Westerner will always try to distinguish himself in some ways, at least attempting to stand out of the crowd a little bit, the Chinese on the contrary is thirsting for absolute social conformity.
They strive to be alike, a part of the herd
Not only are the Chinese completely hypnotized by external markers of wealth or “social status”, they will all buy exactly the same brands, without any personal preference.
Example: a restaurant full to the brim will attract always more Chinese, until there is a 100 meters queue on the sidewalk, because that restaurant is seen as being “famous lah”.
It doesn’t occur to them that mimicry generates ever more mimicry, and that this restaurant might be a sham that has simply managed to create followers through some orchestrated buzz… Nor that there could be a similar or better restaurant, albeit lesser known, a bit further down the road.
Belief in the "numbah one", "proper" thing
In their thirst for absolute social conformity and obedience to societal rules, the Chinese imagine that everything is purely hierarchical, and that in every area there is a "number one, proper thing" that everybody should strive to attain to be a "proper, respectable" member of society.
So everything in their minds is strictly organized according to a simplistic hierarchical classification:
Louis Vuitton is "numbah one", "best" handbag. That’s what you must buy
America is the "numbah one", "best" country. That’s where you must send your children
Oxford/Cambridge/whatever are the "numbah one", “best” universities
They always strive to live in “first tier” mega-cities, and anything else is for “losers”
Etc, etc. You can’t ever make them comprehend that there might be a different fit or taste for each person. They all want the same “numbah one” things that they imagine will give them social approval.
🍋 They are terrified at the idea of standing out from the group
Even the smartest and most powerful among them will still be extreme social conformists and behave like basic householders.
They are all prisoner of a web of social obligations — both real and imagined — that prevent them to think and act by themselves.
Therefore, the great advantage of a non-Asian in an Asian society is to be a “free electron”, immune to their sordid social games.
While a Westerner who is a bit adventurous, with a million dollars in his pocket, could become a total maverick, unpredictable and capable of anything, a Chinese even with 100 million dollars will always remain a bugman who still obeys to his mother at age 40 or 50, who is totally scared of public opinion, and will never do anything interesting by himself, except strolling around in luxury cars and gobbling crabs in a kitsch restaurant.
You're not dealing with the musketeers here…
🍋 How to contain the Chinese easily
It took the American government literally 40 years to realize that the Chinese are congenital cheaters and liars that give no value whatsoever to the notion of “contract”, and cannot be trusted in anything, since their whole culture is based on subterfuge.
They've been cheating each other for much longer than they've been cheating the White ghosts, and this is not going to change anytime soon.
For them, cutthroat behavior, compulsive lying and cutting corners are seen as “being smart” and the only way to “success”.
If you understand this from the start, you can easily screw them back.
Once you understand Chinese tricks and mentality, they are done up with, because they basically only ever use the same tricks and the same lies.
A lot of the usual Chinese tricks were summarized in the 17th century Book of Swindles and in the 36 Stratagems.
🍋 Acute sensitivity to ridicule
If nonetheless you’ve got conned by their shenanigans, then you can still have fun by making them “lose face”.
They take the smallest criticism for a grave insult, and are very afraid of social contact with outsiders to their in-group, where they can play their endless games of “honor and shame”.
For example, even to simply state that Huawei has been stealing Nortel tech, or that the Chinese dictator looks like Winnie the Pooh is considered as a “loss of face” to the whole country.
Sensitive to his image like a 15 yo girl…
"A Chinese, callous in many respects, is acutely sensitive to ridicule and public acrimony. After many inquiries I could never learn of a single authenticated instance of one remaining happily indifferent to such tactics."
- Ralph Townsend, Ways that are Dark: The Truth about China
🍋 Solution: oscillate between giving “face” and ridicule
One of the keys is to use their immense vanity against them.
You can easily counterattack by alternatively “giving face”, and making them “lose face” in a strategic manner.
For example, show them the greatest courtesy and marks of “respect”.
Even more than money, the Chinese is extremely thirsty for “respect”.
So thirsty that if you pretend to give them that respect, they most likely won’t see it coming.
Giving them “respect” and “face” functions like an anesthetic to them.
Just see how China has grown in arrogance since 2008, after the Olympics gave the government massive amounts of “face” in front of their domestic audience.
So it is quite easy to put them in overconfidence mode, and their bum-rush mentality will do the rest.
Their scarcity mentality, hubris and greed will always push them to rush to grab the spoils, and you just have to wait them prepared at the corner.
This is to be kept in mind, because indeed the Chinese are skilled in accumulating capital, and sooner or later they will try to buy over whole parts of the global economy, hoping to place all of us into economic slavery.
However, while they expect everyone to respect them based on money alone, this is counting without the Western culture of irreverence and irony.
The Chinaman fears “losing face” more than losing money - which is saying something.
Therefore, it is by skillfully alternating the feelings of “face” and “shame” that you can most easily manage the Chinese, in a carrot-and-stick type of management.
🍋 China is not a threat outside of its unlimited capacity for pollution and resources waste
Simply put, China can be "numbah one" in terms of GDP, of resources consumed, exportation numbers or whatever, but this will never translate into a cultural and strategic hegemony such as that of the United States or previous Western powers.
The West does not dominate through money alone, but through its capacity to impose beneficial cultural and economic standards based on a certain reciprocity.
The Chinese mentality, all based on lies, fake appearances, the cult of authority, systemic cheating and abuse, and the secret dream of enslaving everyone around them, can not provide a viable leadership model, in spite of their frenetic capital accumulation.
The Chinese distinguish themselves above all by their propensity for dishonesty, lack of loyalties outside of their family group, and inability to cooperate effectively with one another, as well as their rapacious greed and lack of critical thinking skills.
The Chinese are merchants, and that’s all there is to it.
Buying, selling and scamming, without caring about anything else.
The biggest threat they represent to the planet is not economic or military, it rather lies in their insect-like capacity for resources waste and pollution.
“The Chinese is not bothered by abstract ideas about doing anything for the country at large, or in fact with ideas about doing anything for anybody but himself and his immediate family.
- Ralph Townsend, “Ways that are Dark: the Truth about China”
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Excellent writing. Those are by far the most accurate observations on this topic ever published on the internet. It is a little less true to Canadians or Americans of East Asian heritage but widely accurate in Asia. They can't innovate or even manage complex companies. East Asian management is rare for this reason, even in Canada, and are often delegated to being workers with good salaries due to professionalism and good work ethics. In a decade or two, the absolute economic collapse that Asia will endure is going to force these tough questions on how to change and improve. Satanism and the current established world order has propped their economies through dozens and dozens of trillion US in "investments", and literally created all big companies out of Asia. The technology transfer of the 80s to Japan, and transfers to China in early 2000s until recent years. The satanist viewed Asia as the one who would bring down the planet, through marxist and authoritarian systems, only to find out 80 trillion later, that they can't even manage a company into function, let alone profit. Oh the irony... Keep up the good work, but from observation, you're wasting your time if improvement is what you are looking for out of your writings.