The greatest stories ever told all have one element in common: honor. It is the motivator to fight and it is the reason behind our strongest actions. Our honor ties into our duties, ties into our patriotism, and ties into our lifestyles. Honor is the lifeblood of a person’s humanity. Honor ties us to our identities and ties us to each other. Every person has their own code of honor that they follow and so does every country. In China, honor is described as “face”, calling the process of being deemed with dishonor “to lose face”. While we in the West may have given up as a society our affiliations with honor, China has not.
To start with, what is honor? According to Catholic Education, there are two types of honor: reflexive, “[t]he honor of the savage,” and cultural “which comprises the traditions, stories and habits of thought of a particular society about (among other things) the proper and improper uses of violence.” Reflexive honor is a personal honor code such as vengeance and is normally deemed unacceptable by society. In the case of China, reflexive honor can cause loss of face because of their belief systems. Cultural honor comprises of what makes someone respectable in society. It has just as much to do with how someone is perceived as how they act.
Chinese honor is expressed through their concept of face which is daily affected by the people and the situations that are encountered. This type of honor is a communal one, which is why it is termed ‘social face’. “The Anatomy of the Chinese Business Mind” describes it as, “Social face, however, represents one’s social recognition and reputation, which can be enhanced through one’s own efforts . . . Chinese society emphasizes group value. An individual’s face is closely related to the honor of one’s groups, including family, work place, and school. In interactions with foreigners, face is associated with national pride and thus becomes even more sensitive. In a word, the Chinese consider it important to have face and maintain face anywhere and anytime.” (page 104) How an individual fits into society and what they are doing to bring favor to their environment is paramount to Chinese honor because their integrity is tied so closely to the group.
In the movie “To Live”, Fugui constantly struggled with the issue of face. After the political upheaval that resulted in Chairman Mao acting as the new ruler of China, a lot of social strain befell the citizens in making sure that they were following the rules and proving themselves to be against Capitalism. When his friend gave their family a gift to apologize for the death of their only son, Fugui wanted to refuse the gift due to family honor and personal dignity but because the gift was a portrait of Chairman Mao, he could not refuse the offer because his family’s social honor was more important to maintain than his individual sense of one. In the United States, he would have been socially justified in refusing the gift because personal pride is viewed as more important than keeping the peace as a group; almost deeming it immoral to concede to society’s norms when they conflict with personal integrity. This is just one of many circumstances in the film that Fugui surrendered his personal dignity to maintain face for his family and his community, showcasing the friction between reflexive and cultural honor.
Fugui had strong connections to the puppets that he used as a career for many years and he tactfully pled to keep them during a time where China viewed its artifacts negatively. Eventually he had no further excuse to convince the authorities that he should have them and so they are destroyed by fire but their demise would have come years sooner had he not implored of their value. This time of turmoil in Chinese society shows the strong differences between Chinese and American honor because from an American standpoint, Fugui is just weakly giving in to the system that oppresses him at every turn, marking him with dishonor while from a Chinese standpoint, he tactfully maneuvers to bring honor to his family during this time of struggle, even at the cost of personal conviction.
While Fugui surrendered a considerable amount of his personal pride for the sake of his family, that does not mean that this is always the case. It is a part of Asian culture to view most circumstances that befall the individual to impact their community. Sam Louie states, “It’s the most difficult thing to admit to themselves, their families, and other loved ones that they have a problem and need help. The mere acknowledgement of an Asian person having a problem is going against cultural norms because it sends the implicit message to others that you have let them down.” (Psychology Today) Because Asians are culturally a communal people, their personal honor is tied alongside their connections to the community and their family’s face. While in “To Live” it may have seemed as if Fugui was betraying himself for the sake of his family, he probably would have viewed it as a worse betrayal of himself to act in a selfish manner and thus put his family at risk. His selflessness for the sake of survival in such a chaotic time in China was what gave their family face to the community and thus was a part of his personal code of honor.
In the United States, strong connections to honor no longer exist. During the classic Western time period where cowboys, assassins, and Indians were a trademark of the American image, reflexive honor was dealt with using gun fights. Personal attacks to honor were met in this way. However, personal quarrels are no longer allowed to be handled outside of the legal system, making vengeance of life illegal. On the issue of cultural honor, America is so diverse in its thinking and the people that live in the nation that there is no one-standard for behavior. With the constant impact of this liberalism, most people have developed a flippant attitude towards their fellow man, making it hard to gain or lose honor as they no longer have such a connection to each other. Some people in the United States have tried to desperately hold onto old values and thought processes but their resistance to society’s fade of cultural honor has made their ties to cultural honor a personal one, making honor and dishonor to be an individual thought instead of a social one. Since America is so individual-based and focuses on individual gain, cultural honor is not really an issue or even a concern for most people. The ties to Capitalism and Libertarianism mark reflexive honor as the only type of honor that could fit into society without too much strain. Honestly, most of America does not even care about how they are viewed within their own families. While in China this lack of face would be alarming and a terrible reality to deal with, most Americans are too individualistic to care about how they are viewed or even the image of other people.
Honor is a part of our identity. What it means to be honorable in a society deems an individual’s worth. In America, reflexive honor is paramount and a person has good standing as long as they are true to themselves. In China, cultural honor described as “face” is essential to their lives and lifestyles. Honor is core to their Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The constant struggle to maintain face is a common Chinese task that connects them to each other. In China, cultural honor is of the uppermost importance which is why Fugui can be deemed an honorable Chinese man even though those in the West would not see him that way. In the end, following the Code of Honor that your country, your family, and you have given yourself makes you an honorable person, connecting you to your identity— regardless of how those outside of your honor system perceive your action.
Works Cited
Bowman, James. "Introduction: The Two Kinds of Honor." Catholic Education Resource Center. Encounter Books, 2006. Web. 3 May 2016. http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/introduction-the-two-kinds-of-honor.html
Louie, Sam. "Asian Shame and Honor." Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 29 June 2014. Web. 9 May 2016. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minority-report/201406/asian-shame-and-honor
To Live. Zhang Yimou. Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1994. Film.
Yuan, Fangyuan, and Meiru Liu. Anatomy of the Chinese Business Mind: An Insider's Perspective. Singapore: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment