Face and Lizi

“In a family, if someone takes the face, someone must take the inside.”

“Face cannot be stained with dust. If blood is shed, the inside must be kept. Live, if it leaks to face, it is a major matter that destroys the sect and destroys the family. If you give someone a cigarette to save face, you may have to get rid of someone. "

- "The Grandmaster"

There are many allusions or expressions about face, such as "A tree has a skin to live, and a person has a face to live", Xiang Yu's "I have no face to see the elders in Jiangdong", there are also "beating a swollen face to pretend to be fat", "Destroying face to save face and suffering" , "Face Project" and so on.

Face, as the name suggests, is what appears on the surface of a person or thing, and lining is the connotation of a person or thing. Therefore, face itself does not matter whether it is praise or criticism. It is just right to be the same on the outside and on the inside. When appearance is different from appearance, then face often has a derogatory meaning.

People like to talk about face, and there are at least the following reasons:

Distortion of their own values ??

In order to satisfy their own vanity, buy the latest iPhone or buying a bag you like, but not making money through normal means, and ultimately making yourself doomed, like taking out a naked loan.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon. Colleagues and friends often say that in my hometown, some people who originally earned money by working outside have not saved much of their hard-earned money in a year, but in order to make themselves look good, they smoke 50 yuan. It starts with RMB 100 per pack, and 100 RMB per pack is very common, as well as playing cards, mahjong or even gambling. In the end, before the New Year is over, the money is gone, and I have to find someone to borrow money to pay for my car fare when I go out to work.

Inferiority complex

I remember in my senior year of high school, in order to impress the graduating class, the school asked me to give a speech at the school assembly. This incident should have been a happy event, but I was very conflicted at the time because I felt that I did not have high-end clothes, and I felt that wearing ordinary clothes to speak on stage was not decent enough and would cause me to lose face. Later, a friend borrowed a suit for me. Before going on stage, the head teacher seemed a little surprised when he saw me. I instinctively blushed, burning. For a moment, I felt so weak that I read the entire speech according to the script. My body was stiff, I didn't dare to move, and I didn't dare to look at the classmates below. I felt like I was being judged. This feeling of inferiority has been with me for a long time, but I realized it later and worked hard to overcome it.

To give another example, we are often proud to have dined and met people with higher social status and wealth than ourselves, and we will talk about it with others when we have the right opportunity. , It seems that he has more face, but he is useless.

I believe that everyone has done it to some extent in their life because of their inferiority complex and trying to show off their face.

Asymmetry

Another reason for making a fool of yourself is the asymmetry between the two parties. When we ask for help or invite someone with a higher status than us to eat, we often say "give me a face" or "give me a face", take out my best things to give gifts, and order the best dishes. . After all, if we agree to what we ask for, or are willing to eat, we will feel that we have a lot of face.

We are here all the way, competing for babies, fathers, mothers, cars, houses, and even graveyards when we die, aren’t we just asking for face?

Saving face can certainly bring many benefits.

The most famous one is Zhuge Liang's empty city strategy in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Zhuge Liang relied on his superb showmanship skills to scare off Sima Yi's army of hundreds of thousands.

In addition, officials who do well in respecting face can get promoted faster, and businessmen who respect face are often more likely to promote business and bring more wealth. Employees who do well in PPT can often be better promoted and reused.

Where should I place the lining?

As the saying goes, if one general succeeds, ten thousand bones will wither. People often only remember the general. Who will remember the ten thousand bones? Who can think of a way to do it, who will want to be one of those ten thousand bones? !

Therefore, in terms of education, especially compulsory education, as long as nothing happens to students, the quality of teaching does not seem to be that important.

Schools often focus on the admission rate of key middle schools, how many students have been admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua University, and how many students have been admitted to major schools. This is because these are on the table, and teachers, principals and schools can benefit from them.

We often talk about technological innovation, but it seems that we emphasize more on technological applications. It is possible that a lifetime of scientific research may lead to nothing being discovered, but that does not mean that such research is meaningless. Tu Youyou, who invented artemisinin, is as famous as Einstein, but how many people knew about her before she won the Nobel Prize?

Huawei has invested hugely in basic research in the industry. It is this investment in basic research that makes Huawei far ahead in technology applications. Strong basic research is the foundation for enterprise development. ZTE was almost crushed to death by the United States. China General Nuclear Power Corporation helped the British build nuclear power plants, but the reactor engines used Rolls-Royce. Not long ago, Ren Zhengfei emphasized that the country should increase investment in basic education. He is such a sensible person! In an era where everyone cares about face, students may not be able to take good lunch breaks. It is not easy to do a good job in basic education!