I don't agree with you on the part with following the leaders. The country has been split up and re-made so many times that one can argue that as a matter of fact these are some of the most disloyal folks on the planet. See the constant mass exodus from the country. You can even say that in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and even Japan to some extent took in many refugees from china who wanted out. Over half the history of this country has been wars. While the times of peace are really peaceful due to an always oppressive central government, it is not one that can be categorized as being good.

I still stand by the idea that people take what is given to them by choice. That is because of the lack of a strong spiritual foundation which rests on building consciousness. This comes from the belief of the fact that you can make something out of nothing. China never has, and probably never will with its current identity wanted to view the folks who truly build their societies as the pillars and central figures. Face, in other words putting on a show of what looks good takes precedence. This is the most important idea in chinese culture, and it comes from an unforgiving, bottomless selfishness.

People like Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, and Einstein would never have received any recognition. It is a guarantee that what they brought to the world would have only been seen in china (no matter what period in history) by the educators and bureaucrats as something which cannot be used to further ones personal gains.

Therein lies the biggest problem with the Chinese, and that is the lack of will to do things which can bring them no benefit whatsoever but will benefit society to the fullest. Everything that they do must bring some benefit to the self. This is projected sometimes as bringing "glory" to china but in the end it's still all about furthering one's own agenda.

Confucianism is mainly to blame for creating a society that is so cold, uncaring, and unhelpful. The behavior that is mainly stressed in this form is to take the ideas and attitudes of others even if it is abusive. This does not in real life lead to any kind of improvement, but it only leads to the abuse and the general degradation become worse. Whereas the European values realized during the Renaissance emphasized the importance of individualism that was based on Greek Philosophy, and respecting rules and boundaries for individuals followed that. Turnoi I do not think we will change each others minds on our stances towards this topic, I will just leave it at that.