Face-saving is the most important psychological and behavioral character of the Chinese people.This has been widely agreed upon among men of letters but not so among researchers.This is because the former are focused on social observations,whereas the latter seek to reach conclusions through disciplinary methods.How-ever,the challenge of studying the Chinese conception of face lies not in observation and empirical research,but in achieving a comprehensive understanding of the conception.This paper argues that a true understanding of the Chinese conception of face can start with metaphor analysis,in which the face is found to be intricately inter-twined with rituals and progresses from specific bodily expressions to metaphoric representations of certain be-haviors and eventually to external manifestations in Chinese history.In pertinence to metaphor,there exists a highly influential dramaturgical theory that offers a insightful analytical framework for studying the conception of face,but it does not mean that the question is solved for good,since a true comprehension of the Chinese met-aphor of face can only be achieved within Chinese cultural context and daily language usage,and improved through dialogue with dramaturgical theory.
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