This text provides an ethnography of a Chinese middle school based on fieldwork conducted in 1988 to 1989. It provides a way of looking at classroom and societal interactions in terms of the interplay among criticism, face and shame.This text provides an ethnography of a Chinese middle school based on fieldwork conducted in 1988 to 1989. It provides a way of looking at classroom and societal interactions in terms of the interplay among criticism, face and shame.The PARADOX of POWER in a PEOPLES REPUBLIC of CHINA MIDDLE SCHOOL; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Evaluation and Criticism in Education and Social Life; Chapter 3 The Historical Background of Evaluation and Criticism; Chapter 4 The Centrality of Face; Chapter 5 Face, Criticism, and Evaluation in the Classroom; Chapter 6 Socialization in the Family; Chapter 7 The Topography of Emotion; Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Paradox of Power;US? 1993 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.