Saving Face Research Articles

Learning to Speak Chinese: Defining the Sino-American Film Paradigm

This article proposes a new paradigm, Sino-American film, that is centered on Chinese language in American films. Sino-American films comprise two generations. The First Generation includes Pushing Hands (1993), Take Out (2004), and Saving Face (2004) and is characterized by independent production, limited distribution, and creation during a period when Asian Americans were rarely represented on film. The Second Generation includes The Farewell (2019), Tigertail (2019), Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings (2021), and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and is characterized by a Hollywood production model, widespread distribution across streaming services, and creation during a period of growing Asian American cultural representation. Sino-American films negotiate both Chinese-language film and Hollywood by focusing on overlooked characters— Chinese-language-speaking Americans. This article contributes to conversations in Chinese film studies and Asian American studies by bringing Asian American film into exchanges with three Chinese film studies paradigms: transnational cinema, Chinese-language film, and Sinophone film. This cross pollination uncovers new areas for further study. Sino-American film demonstrates the importance of Sino-American language, ethnicity, and culture within the subsuming category of Asian American film. Furthermore, pairing Sino-American films with Chinese film studies uncovers a new category of Chinese-language film outside assumed contexts and paradigms.

Breaking the Mold: The One Social Class Model and Saving Face among Undocumented and Mixed-Status Chinese Immigrant Families

Breaking the Mold: The One Social Class Model and Saving Face among Undocumented and Mixed-Status Chinese Immigrant Families

Improving Convenience or Saving Face? An Empirical Analysis of the Use of Facial Recognition Payment Technology in Retail

Facial recognition payment technology (FR) has the potential to disrupt the offline retailing industry by automating the payment process. However, some firms that adopted FR payment technology have experienced only moderate success, and many customers have expressed frustration using FR payment technology. By utilizing data sets from three retail chains, we find that customers are less likely to use FR payment technology during self-checkouts when more customers are in line behind them, waiting and watching (the social presence effect), and when more preceding customers use the other payment technology (the herding effect). These findings imply that (1) the design of FR technology can be improved to alleviate the social presence effect (such as adding a privacy screen filter or beautify the appearance of the consumer’s image), and (2) monetary incentives may be used to attract more users by leveraging the herding effect.

A Pragmatics-based Appeal to Saving Face so as to Save Lives: On Intercultural Pragmatic Awareness (or rather: Lack thereof) in a Handbook for US Soldiers Deployed for Iraq

ABSTRACT The present paper zooms in on levels of pragmatic awareness and the range of stereotypical presuppositions as appearing in one specific text, i.e. the Soldier’s Handbook to Iraq. This text was made available to the 1st infantry division of the US Army when they proceeded to Iraq in 2003. In the present mixed-methods study we demonstrate that the handbook systematically uses what Beukeboom and Burgers (2019) call ‘biased language’ in that the text is cohesively composed of such lexico-semantic choices that point explicitly or implicitly to (mostly negative) stereotypes associated with the categories of ‘Arabs’ or ‘Iraqis’. We pay specific attention to the cross–cultural use of imperatives and lexical verbs – one of them being ogaf اوگف-“stop!” – as representing explicit speech acts of command. Overall, our study argues that the handbook came condemnably short in equipping its readers in terms of intercultural pragmatic competence and awareness, which surfaces both on the lexico-semantic level in the shape of stereotypical labels and descriptions of ‘the Iraqi’ as well as on the pragmatic level in terms of politeness and face-threatening language use towards Iraqis in Iraq.

A Scalable Solution for Signaling Face Touches to Reduce the Spread of Surface-based Pathogens

Hand-to-Face transmission has been estimated to be a minority, yet non-negligible, vector of COVID-19 transmission and a major vector for multiple other pathogens. At the same time, as it cannot be effectively addressed with mainstream protection measures, such as wearing masks or tracing contacts, it remains largely untackled. To help address this issue, we have developed Saving Face - an app that alerts users when they are about to touch their faces, by analyzing the distortion patterns in the ultrasound signal emitted by their earphones. The system only relies on pre-existing hardware (a smartphone with generic earphones), which allows it to be rapidly scalable to billions of smartphone users worldwide. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of the system, as well as the results of a user study testing the solution's accuracy, robustness, and user experience during various day-to-day activities (93.7% Sensitivity and 91.5% Precision, N=10). While this paper focuses on the system's application to detecting hand-to-face gestures, the technique can also be applicable to other types of gestures and gesture-based applications.

Deconstructing the Other’s Other: Analyzing the Chinese Female Image in the Film Saving Face

The image of Chinese women portrayed in American films is essentially the West’s imagination of China, conveyed by the female body and constructed in the Orientalist discourse. Over the past one hundred years, Chinese women have been primarily depicted as docile, weak, submissive, voiceless, and in need of being rescued and guided by Occidentals. With the evolution of the global order and the rise of China’s international status, the silent Orient has taken the initiative to resist and reshape this voiceless, “other-ed” image. This article aims to focus on the female characters in Saving Face, an American film directed by Chinese American director Alice Wu in 2004, and analyzes how the director reverses the stereotyped Chinese female image based on the theoretical framework of Orientalism and postcolonial studies, not only “the other” with regards to men, but also “the other” as to the Occident, thus dismantling long-held misreadings of China.

Young Cambodian Consumers’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility : Applications of Collectivism, Saving Face, and Buddhism

Young Cambodian Consumers’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility : Applications of Collectivism, Saving Face, and Buddhism

Representation of Gender in Documentary Saving Face: A Semiotic Analysis

The purpose of the current study is to analyze how gender is represented in the documentary Saving Face through the use of different signs. The study of the portrayal of gender in Pakistani documentary has been conducted through the analysis of signs. For this purpose, 8 visuals from Saving Face were analyzed using elements of the stills such as camera angle, character's body language, physical appearance, gestures, dressing, background objects or props and colors. Employing the theoretical framework of Peirce's theory of signs on documentary, various types of signs such as iconic, indexical and symbolic signs representing gender and sketching out distinct aspects of gender roles in Pakistan, were unearthed. Two major findings were deduced: (1) laid in the domestic and public sphere, Pakistan men are more celebrated and respected than women; and (2) the existing gender roles have observed a breach of unconventionality from the stereotypical roles.

Honour-Based Crimes in Pakistan: Narratives of Victims, Aggressors and Bystanders

The study explores the causes of honour-based crimes through the narratives of victims, aggressors and bystanders, which were unfolded in documentary films: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) and Saving Face (2012). Selected narratives are interpreted by taking the sociocultural perspectives that draw on the cultural manifestation of honour crimes. The study shows that the ‘ideology of honour’ is one of the major causes of honour- crimes in Pakistan. Unlike Western discourses, which empower a woman institutionally to resist honour crimes, Pakistani women are either hushed or forced to compromise despite the presence of law to punish the aggressors. The study recommends that state and nonstate institutions play an effective role through the local councils of Pakistan in dealing with honour crimes and rehabilitation of victims through the provision of remunerative work.

RELEARNING HOW TO DRIVE

AbstractThe author notes that one trait that successful leaders have in common is the ability to save and honor face for others. “Saving Face” is a universal concept, beyond its origins in China, and it is a key factor in leadership for building positive relationships, motivating and rewarding others. Leaders can navigate through a new or unfamiliar situation and still manage to save and protect face; an ability the author calls, “Relearning how to drive.” For instance, working in a new environment is a lot like driving in a foreign country for the first time. Go on autopilot too quickly can lead to a loss of face, whether it's a new team or a new country you're working in. A detailed corporate example is provided about a videoconference with managers from a factory in Dongguan, China, illustrating a concept the author refers to as The Cultural Iceberg. The BUILD model is also outlined, with five keys that are crucial building blocks to forming strong, productive business relationships: Benevolence and Accountability, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery. Leaders can view complex issues in a multicultural business environment from four different perspectives: first person, second person, meta position, and helicopter.

Angie Y. Chung, Saving Face. The Emotional Costs of the Asian Immigrant Family Myth

Les familles d’origine asiatique nourrissent les fantasmes aux Etats-Unis. Les representations dominantes soulignent leur ethique du travail, de l’autorite et du sacrifice, refletees par le succes scolaire et professionnel des secondes generations, mais aussi le controle excessif des parents sur les enfants, leur froideur et leur incapacite a communiquer leurs emotions. Dans Saving Face, Angie Y. Chung s’attaque a cet imaginaire ambivalent, qui fait des familles asiatiques des « bastions stat...

:Saving Face: The Emotional Costs of the Asian Immigrant Family Myth

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsSaving Face: The Emotional Costs of the Asian Immigrant Family Myth. By Angie Y. Chung. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2016. Pp. xiii+233. $120.00 (cloth); $31.95 (paper).Yingyi MaYingyi MaSyracuse University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 125, Number 3November 2019 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/707404 Views: 204Total views on this site For permission to reuse a book review printed in the American Journal of Sociology, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Diasporic Chinese family drama through a transnational lens: The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Saving Face (2004)

Abstract The immigrant Chinese family has increasingly been represented in transnational Chinese cinema(s) over the past three decades. Two representative films, The Wedding Banquet (Lee, 1993) and Saving Face (Wu, 2004), are chosen to shed light on Chinese filmmakers' engagement with the complex process of identity formation for immigrants through the artifice of family conflict. Both movies examine how homosexuality can pose a threat to traditional Chinese family ethics such as filial piety, family continuity and family reputation, and how the seemingly incompatible ideological standpoints can be accommodated in the end. In both cases, on the one hand the depicted denial of homosexuality comes from its association with failed family education and bad ethnic and cultural practice, and its violation of traditional Chinese values. Therefore, sexuality becomes linked to the effect of Americanization and what it means to be Chinese. On the other hand, the 'undesirable' homosexual identity can be accepted or at least tolerated within the family as long as the family lineage is ensured, or the family remains intact. The disaporic subjects show us that submission to one's ethnicity can be modified or unlearned.

Gender Identity and Facebook: Social Conservatism and Saving Face

People increasingly log on to Social Networking Websites to remain updated with the latest News and to share their thoughts and their significant life events. Their perception of their own and others’ identities influences their self-presentation on social media. There is a mental image of the audience on the mind of online users when they share content. The extent to which individuals reveal or conceal aspects of their identities within a socio-cultural context affects the presentation of their digital gender identity. We have explored Internet accessibility and use of social media relating to adult users for both Iranians living in the country that are experiencing filtered social media and those living outside of the country. The identified influential elements through conducting this in-depth research was an attempt to address the gap in online identity formation in the Iranian context. This qualitative case study examined online interviews (N=9) and follow-up Facebook observations (N=10) from ten Iranian male and female Facebook users. A relationship was found between the specific identity-presentation and the individuals’ gender and their level of conservatism. Regardless of the socio-cultural conservatism, individuals make themselves known via the manipulated digital images and Facebook avatars.

The Meaning of Liberation: From The Joy Luck Club to Face and Saving Face

The Meaning of Liberation: From The Joy Luck Club to Face and Saving Face

Asianfail: Narratives of Disenchantment and the Model Minority by Eleanor Ty

Reviewed by: Asianfail: Narratives of Disenchantment and the Model Minority by Eleanor Ty Jason Wang Asianfail: Narratives of Disenchantment and the Model Minority, by Eleanor Ty. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017. X + 156 pp. $30.00 paper. ISBN: 978-0-252-08235-1. Eleanor Ty's book Asianfail is a valuable and timely contribution to Asian American and Asian Canadian studies, providing a novel way of understanding the new generation of Asian North Americans through their narratives. The book fills a significant gap in scholarship, not only by identifying the changing dynamics of Asian North American literature and culture in relation to economic, geographical, and political circumstances, but also by attending to how their creative works refashion a white-dominant platform to negotiate ethnical identities, emotional expressions, and individual happiness in a larger global context. In this, Ty's approach is two-pronged. First, she debunks the myth of Asians as "the model minority": that is, the still-prevailing discourse in popular culture since the 1960s, when sociologist William Petersen first coined the term to describe Japanese Americans in the New York Times Magazine. The concept of a model minority links Asian culture with strong community values as well as a high work ethic and dedication, which bring about social success despite Asian people's cultural marginalization. Second, using various literary and visual narratives as examples, Ty scrutinizes the emotional reactions and consequences to the everyday grievances that Asian North Americans tackle. [End Page 125] As she writes, "These affective responses to the national, familial, economic, and professional pressures reveal the still-intertwined relationship between the capitalist ethos, where an individual is seen as having a duty to prosper and be happy; traditional Confucian values of filial obedience; and the politics of race, ethnicity, gender, and globalization" (24). Specifically, Ty examines what she terms narratives of failure, demonstrating how unhappiness, pressure, and depression infiltrate contemporary Asian North American cultural products, such as fiction, autobiographies, and films. Ty's argument of failure reaches far beyond considering material discontent and disenchantment, however: it permeates affective experiences, family tensions, and individual burdens from the financial and professional (self-) expectations that result from the discourse of model minority. She contends that the model minority myth glosses over more intricate immigration (hi) stories and complex material backgrounds. The book's six chapters pivot around the bodily and affective experience of Asianfail. Chapters 1 through 3 explore the concept of Asianfail in relation to the precarity of daily life. In Chapter 1, Ty examines the young protagonists who are entangled in coming-of-age problems and challenge the designated success in Ruth Ozeki's novel A Tale for the Time Being (2013) and Mariko Tamaki's novella Cover Me (2000) and graphic novel Skim (2008). The spotlight shifts in Chapter 2 to second-generation youth who question the neoliberal sense of desire and conventional family relationship and sexuality narratives in Asian American films, such as Gene Cajayon's The Debut (2000), Georgia Lee's Red Doors (2005), and Alice Wu's Saving Face (2004). Chapter 3 interrogates the refugees' and transnational citizens' struggles with traumatic memories of war, loss, and violence in fictional geopolitical spaces created by novelists Lê Thị Diễm Thúy and Madeleine Thien. The remaining chapters address the corporal and mental consequences of Asianfail. Chapter 4 examines the aging and the aged as a failure under the model minority discourse that automatically configures senior citizens as "those who are beyond the age of economic and professional productivity" (86). Ty's scrutiny of aging and the aged not only reveals cross-generational feelings of depression and shame but also suggests that aged bodies can be reconfigured by affective memories and nostalgia. Chapter 5 explores Catherine Hernandez's play Singkil (2009) and Jan Wong's self-published best-selling memoir Out of the Blue (2012) as stories of work-related stress and mental breakdown. In this, the narrators are victimized by their "neoliberal belief in hard work" (110), and their alleged failure emanates from their own images of "the overachiever immigrant" (114). Chapter 6 resituates Alex Gilvarry's novel From the Memoirs of a Non-enemy Combatant (2012) and Keshni Kashyap and Mari...

"Saving Face": An Online Study of the Injecting Use of DIY Botox and Dermal Filler Kits.

This study reports on an empirically underdocumented practice in contemporary aesthetic enhancement culture, the self-injection of unregulated DIY Botox and dermal filler kits purchased online. Data were collected from 4 online discussion forums containing disclosures in relation to use of DIY kits and analyzed using ethnographic content analysis. Motivation to source DIY Botox and dermal fillers online was grounded in desire to avoid financial cost of professional services and a lack of confidence in practitioners. Future intentions to order online raw materials and "formulas" to prepare dermal fillers at home were expressed. Individuals taught themselves to inject through watching YouTube tutorials and downloading Botox injection maps from the Internet. Although individuals demonstrated awareness of the health risks involved with self-injection of unregulated products, this was not a deterrent. Future research is warranted to document the injecting practices and health outcomes of individuals who inject DIY Botox and dermal filler kits to inform targeted harm reduction interventions by health-care practitioners.

Perceptions of Gambling in Tamil and Chinese Communities in Australia: The Role of Saving Face in Perpetuating Gambling Stigma and Hindering Help Seeking

Despite Australia being a multicultural country, there is limited evidence regarding ethnic perspectives about gambling, problem gambling, and associated help seeking. The aim of this paper is to examine the role and nature of stigma in relation to gambling, in particular its association with the concept of saving face. Interview data were thematically analysed from a study investigating the attitudes and experiences of gambling among ethnic minority communities (Tamil and Chinese) in Melbourne, Victoria. By using two well-established frameworks for understanding stigma, we examine the extent to which gambling is stigmatized within these two communities. The desire to save face (a form of stigma management) significantly influences what is said about gambling and the reluctance of individuals to seek help should it become problematic. Thresholds for stigmatized behaviour appear to differ between the communities studied, as well as from what is known about the Anglo-Celtic majority. Understanding this heterogeneity may be important for informing more effective, tailored interventions.Bien que l’Australie soit un pays multiculturel, il existe peu de données probantes sur les perspectives ethniques du jeu, le jeu problématique et la demande d’aide connexe. L’objectif du présent article est d’examiner le rôle et la nature du stigmate associé au jeu, en particulier son lien avec le concept de sauver la face. Les données d’entrevues réalisées dans le cadre d’une étude sur les attitudes et les expériences de jeu de membres de communautés ethniques minoritaires (tamiles et chinoises) à Melbourne, en Australie, ont été analysées par thème. À l’aide de deux cadres de travail reconnus pour la compréhension du stigmate, nous avons examiné la mesure dans laquelle le jeu est stigmatisé dans ces deux communautés. Le désir de sauver la face (qui est une forme de gestion du stigmate) a une grande incidence sur ce qui est dit sur le jeu et sur la réticence à demander de l’aide lorsque le jeu devient problématique. Le seuil de stigmatisation du comportement semble être différent dans les deux communautés étudiées, ainsi que de ce que l’on sait du stigmate dans la communauté majoritaire anglo-celte. Comprendre cette hétérogénéité pourrait aider à élaborer des interventions personnalisées plus efficaces.

Perceptions of Gambling in Tamil and Chinese Communities in Australia: The Role of Saving Face in Perpetuating Gambling Stigma and Hindering Help Seeking

Despite Australia being a multicultural country, there is limited evidence regarding ethnic perspectives about gambling, problem gambling, and associated help seeking. The aim of this paper is to examine the role and nature of stigma in relation to gambling, in particular its association with the concept of saving face. Interview data were thematically analysed from a study investigating the attitudes and experiences of gambling among ethnic minority communities (Tamil and Chinese) in Melbourne, Victoria. By using two well-established frameworks for understanding stigma, we examine the extent to which gambling is stigmatized within these two communities. The desire to save face (a form of stigma management) significantly influences what is said about gambling and the reluctance of individuals to seek help should it become problematic. Thresholds for stigmatized behaviour appear to differ between the communities studied, as well as from what is known about the Anglo-Celtic majority. Understanding this heterogeneity may be important for informing more effective, tailored interventions.Bien que l’Australie soit un pays multiculturel, il existe peu de données probantes sur les perspectives ethniques du jeu, le jeu problématique et la demande d’aide connexe. L’objectif du présent article est d’examiner le rôle et la nature du stigmate associé au jeu, en particulier son lien avec le concept de sauver la face. Les données d’entrevues réalisées dans le cadre d’une étude sur les attitudes et les expériences de jeu de membres de communautés ethniques minoritaires (tamiles et chinoises) à Melbourne, en Australie, ont été analysées par thème. À l’aide de deux cadres de travail reconnus pour la compréhension du stigmate, nous avons examiné la mesure dans laquelle le jeu est stigmatisé dans ces deux communautés. Le désir de sauver la face (qui est une forme de gestion du stigmate) a une grande incidence sur ce qui est dit sur le jeu et sur la réticence à demander de l’aide lorsque le jeu devient problématique. Le seuil de stigmatisation du comportement semble être différent dans les deux communautés étudiées, ainsi que de ce que l’on sait du stigmate dans la communauté majoritaire anglo-celte. Comprendre cette hétérogénéité pourrait aider à élaborer des interventions personnalisées plus efficaces.

Feminist Documentary Films and Family, Body and Market as Patriarchal Seong-Apparatus : "A Girl in the River", “Saving Face", Google Baby and Empire of Shame

Feminist Documentary Films and Family, Body and Market as Patriarchal Seong-Apparatus : "A Girl in the River", “Saving Face", Google Baby and Empire of Shame