I guess it depends on how you perceive "face". Admitting to and taking responsibility for mistakes can be good, but both academia and the PRC are united in the

I guess it depends on how you perceive "face". Admitting to and taking responsibility for mistakes can be good, but both academia and the PRC are united in their delusion that pretending to never make any mistakes is somehow good, even when it's almost an open secret that those mistakes exist. Doubling down and tripling down, if you will.