Courtesy Expressions Between China and Japan: On Face Theory

Courtesy expression, as lubricant, is a method of interaction with people by which using moderate praises and compliments which in an effort tries to build harmonious relationship with others. In this paper, I devote myself to figure out the feasibility of courtesy expression in daily using between China and Japan at the condition of Face theory proposed by Brown and Levinson, even though these two countries share many a similarity with each other. The insights of this paper emphasize how Chinese and Japanese behave diversely during daily communication in aim of mutual understanding and better communication with westerners.