done, but consummate acting, contriving to convey the appearance of a
thing or a fact, whatever the realities may be. This is Chinese high art;
this is success. It is self-respect, and it involves and implies the respect
of others. It is, in a word, `face.' The preservation of `face'
frequently requires that one should behave in an arbitrary and violent
manner merely to emphasize his protests against the course of current events.
He or she must fly into a violent rage, he or she must use reviling and
perhaps imprecatory language, else it will not be evident to the spectators
of the drama, in which he is at the moment acting, that he is aware just
what ought to be done by a person in his precise situation; and then he
will have `no way to descend from the stage,' or in other words, he will
have lost `face.' ''[10]

[10] Smith, ``Rex Christus,'' pp. 107, 108.


Even in death this remains the ruling passion. Chinese
coffins require much wood and are an expensive
burden in this land where timber is scarce, for Confucius said
that a coffin should be five inches thick. So the poorer
Chinese thriftily meet this requirement by making the sides and
ends hollow! Thus ``face'' is saved.

In these circumstances, it was very important that the
relations of Europeans to China should be characterized not only
by justice but by tact and at least decent respect for the
feelings and customs of the people. The chief cause of China's
hostility to foreigners undoubtedly lies in the notorious and
often contemptuous disregard of these things by the majority
of the white men who have entered China and by the Governments