The phrase saving faces" where did it come from?

Question

okay, where did the phrase "saving face' come from? from what I know is that asian culture (chinese/vietnams) have been using this phrase for what it mean longest time and it literally it ratnslated exactly the same meaning into English. i remembe westerner didn't used to using the phrase 'saving f***s" t express beig embarrass orr loss of dignity, but unill recently e phrase se using liberately as part of te American culture. So was it ifluenced by asian culture or was it something familiar to westerner all along?

Answer 1

It comes directly from Chinese. The two Chinese terms are "lian", which refers to society's perception of one's moral character, and "mianzi", which refers to the perception of status or prestige. Both translate literally to "face".