| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract in Chinese | 第5-8页 |
| Abstract in English | 第8-13页 |
| 1. Introduction | 第13-16页 |
| 2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework | 第16-26页 |
| ·Indirectness in Pragmatics | 第16-18页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第16-17页 |
| ·Indirect Speech Acts | 第17-18页 |
| ·Cooperative Principle and Neo-Griceanism | 第18-19页 |
| ·Metalinguistic Aspects and Maxims of Politeness | 第19-21页 |
| ·Brown and Levinson's Face-saving Theory of Politeness | 第21-22页 |
| ·Gu's Maxims of Politeness | 第22-26页 |
| 3.Characteristics of Indirectness | 第26-38页 |
| ·Universal Indirectness | 第26-33页 |
| ·Definitions of Indirectness | 第26-27页 |
| ·Methods of Indirect Illocutions | 第27-30页 |
| ·Mitigation | 第27-29页 |
| ·Euphemism | 第29-30页 |
| ·Circumstantial Voice | 第30页 |
| ·Situations on Using Indirectness | 第30-33页 |
| ·Using indirectness under power | 第31页 |
| ·Using indirectness under social distance | 第31-32页 |
| ·Using indirectness with the size of imposition | 第32页 |
| ·Using indirectness with rights and obligations | 第32-33页 |
| ·Culturally-bound Characteristics of Indirectness | 第33-38页 |
| ·Differences in Cultural Conventions | 第34-35页 |
| ·Differences in Contextual Cues | 第35-36页 |
| ·Differences in Affective Implicatures of Utterances | 第36-38页 |
| 4. Characteristics of Chinese Indirectness | 第38-44页 |
| ·Allowing Unforeseen Circumstances | 第38页 |
| ·Denigrating Self and Respecting Other | 第38-39页 |
| ·Mutual Care | 第39-40页 |
| ·Fulfillment of Moral Obligations | 第40-44页 |
| 5. Face and Politeness | 第44-50页 |
| ·About Face | 第44页 |
| ·Strategies for Doing FTAs | 第44-46页 |
| ·"Face" in Chinese | 第46页 |
| ·Chinese 'face' and Brown and Levinson's 'face' | 第46-50页 |
| 6. A Case Study | 第50-59页 |
| ·Hypothesis | 第50-52页 |
| ·Questionnaire | 第52-53页 |
| ·Data Collection | 第53-55页 |
| ·Procedure of the Survey | 第53页 |
| ·Results of the Survey | 第53-55页 |
| ·Analysis of the Comments on Chinese Indirectness | 第55-56页 |
| ·The Cultural Differences in Value System | 第56-59页 |
| 7. Conclusion | 第59-61页 |
| Bibliography | 第61-64页 |
