Hm. Ruminating on this matter as a Chinese, here are my thoughts.
The difference between Face (sometimes) and Izzat is that there are Chinese who do acknowledge the problems people see with their lying eyes. Once enough people acknowledge the issue there is a chance for reform or a solution (even if it is a band-aid) towards the problem. Of course I don't know how effective that is in China in our contemporary era as I don't live there.
But I do know Face is often weaponized on a personal level to push people into becoming overacheivers, which leads to impostor syndrome and all sorts of mental health issues. This is especially prevalent in the clusterfuck that is China, but where I live in Singapore it manifests as the concept of "kiasu" (being afraid to lose) where material wealth or higher qualification is equated to higher worth in an individual, except even when that value system was at its peak the Chinese in my country were actually encouraged to participate in the education system and make a good worker out of themselves. Today "kiasu" is less prevalent in our society due to the government shifting its media strategy, and kiasu is seen as a relic of the 80s and 90s.
But yeah I'd take my race's Face over India's Izzat. Holy shit, I never thought race politics could get this bad.