> I think you're falling into the common western trap of misunderstanding Chinese culture by projecting our cultural proclivities onto their civilization. This

> I think you're falling into the common western trap of misunderstanding Chinese culture by projecting our cultural proclivities onto their civilization. This claim is becoming cliche and wasn't a strong argument to begin with. It's an easy escape, claiming that it's a subjective thing that others can't understand and shouldn't dare criticize, out of respect. It's also a way of diverting discussion with a counter-attack. In this case, I'm not even sure what it refers to. What parts of the GP are "Chinese culture" and what in the GP, specifically, is a 'projection' of "cultural proclivities". Culture isn't a fixed thing; it evolves and changes all the time. Otherwise, we could say that communism, capitalism and international trade are certainly not part of Chinese culture (they are imports from the West after the end of 2,000 years of imperial China in 1911); or that democracy and freedom are (Taiwan and Hong Kong).