China and communist beliefs.

[CapelDodger]

My wife has been here for 18 years, was PhD-educated here, has been married to me for 16 years, and she still says "we" to mean "all Chinese people", as in "We don't think X" or "We like Y very much". My parents tease her with "What do you mean 'we'?" when they hear this. I suppose she means "all Han Chinese", but you get the point. The difference in individual vs collective thought and opinion between China and the West is striking.

"The nail which sticks out must be hammered in" is an ancient proverb across the East. I associate it with population densities that depend on division-of-labour and remote exchange, which has been the norm in the "teeming" East for thousands of years. It's a hard enough boat to row at the best of times, so boat-rockers are not welcome.

The comparison with Western population densities is striking - and the Mongols didn't even get here! - but then the West's military advantage was developed in-house, with the inevitable consequences.

 

[CapelDodger]

But Mormonism works. As does Chinese communism.

Good weed works. "Works" is rather catch-all.

The PRC has worked so far without ever looking threatened. It survived Mao, and it would never countenance a Trump. Mao, like Stalin, has confirmed the Leninist Error of the Personality Cult. The US is getting its first lesson.