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I for one am 100% true-blood Chinese..."
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Now we're in danger of unintentionally slipping towards racism. I for one have never suggested - and don't believe - that "nature" and "nurture" are intertwined to the extent that your genetic heritage determines your culture. "Blood" - i.e. genetics have NOTHING to do with it. Culture however has EVERYTHING to do with it. When, a couple of years back, the EU Commission was forced to sack ALL of its commissioners (but promptly re-hired a few of them)... who it was that stayed fired, and who got re-hired was largely down to the culture they came from. In an implicit argument about whose "cultural values" are the most "valid", Northern Europe won.. and the Mediterraneans lost. In
some cultures, it's OK to hire your friends and family at infflated wages regardless of their qualifications for the job (like Edith Cresson giving a six-figure salary to her Hairdresser!) whereas in others... it's not. Some cultures expect receipts to prove you've spent as much as you claim you did... others don't. Grim, humourless Protestant Anglo-German values won the day. The point is.. the French, Italians, Greeks etc., weren't doing anything
wrong... at least, not regarded as wrong by the cultures in which
they lived. In many culture, functionaries salaries are small - in recognition of the assumption that their pay is going to be subsidized by bribery.
It's a problem that has unexpected spin-off effects. British Aerospace signed a deal with the Saudis to supply the new "Eurofighter"... the EU now has new "no bribes" laws, whereas to the Saudis, bribes are a standard everyday part of doing business. BA was being investigated for (allegedly) paying bribes.. until pressure from the Saudis brought the enquiry to an early close.
The point I made originally was that "normal business practice" varies from culture to culture, and when members of one culture trade with another, then those differences are going to show up and cause friction. I carefully made no claim that any particular culture was "better" In fact I find the Germanic reflexive obedience to authority somewhat distasteful. It's not that they're "more honest"... just "less imaginative"!
Research concerning something only slightly overlapping suggests that conditions in the sweatshops of Mainland China vary largely as a result of who owns and controls the factory. Those owned or controlled from Hong Kong tend to treat their workers significantly worse than foreign owned, or even "regular Chinese" owned... but about the same as factories owned by Taiwanese. Conclusion... there's more than ONE "China", and more than one set of "Chinese values".