It means losing face. Causing someone to lose face could ruin business prospects or even invite recrimination. The easiest way to cause someone to lose face is to insult an individual or criticise him/ her in front of others. It is not really the act that causes a loss of face but the fact that the act is public, and there is public humiliation or loss of prestige involved. Westerners can unintentionally offend Chinese by making fun of them in a good-natured way. Another error can be to treat someone as a subordinate when their status in an organization is high.
