>Here are some distinctions I’ve picked up:
Mianzi:
Tonight at Lu Xiang, Camilla’s brother left us to hem his pants. We were headed to Starbucks, and she shouted this across the store. Everyone turned and looked at us.
Everyone knew we were headed to Starbucks.
Everyone knew we could afford it.
Mianzi is related to the idea of ‘face’. You can ‘save face’ in different ways. One way is to go to a place like Starbucks or be seen smoking an expensive brand of cigarettes. This displays your high social status in the eyes of others.
This gives you mianzi…I think.
Lian:
I think lian is a type of moral face. Take for instance a traditional Chinese girl from a small town whose parents have instructed her to be chaste until marriage. She disobeys, and the rumor spreads around her town and brings shame on her and her family.
Guanxi:
I don’t fully understand this one, but here is what I think it is.
A type of social networking. I believe that it works irregardless of social status in that one person can call upon a favor from another person. For example, someone getting a job they are not necessarily qualified for.
There will be more in-depth posts on these in the future.
