Peer pressure in not an excuse for inaction. The Chinese could dump the collectivist mindset if they really wanted to

Indeed!

I was having an out of class discussion with a student about the end of communism in East Germany, and how the people stood up to the border guards and refused to back down, and how the border guards relented, and the party was defeated in the end.

It is all mei banfa, go with the flow, or not my problem, why should I care mentality?