You seem to be forgetting that many western groups are very small: 1 senior (often not even tenured) and 1-2 grad students, with not even a lab manager in sight

You seem to be forgetting that many western groups are very small: 1 senior (often not even tenured) and 1-2 grad students, with not even a lab manager in sight. In those conditions, going slower than a 50-grad-student chinese lab is not slacking off.