I think it has something to do with the Confucian formalities. This is true of Taiwan and Singapore as well. Though ironically enough mainland China is probab

I think it has something to do with the Confucian formalities. This is true of Taiwan and Singapore as well. Though ironically enough mainland China is probably the least Confucian of the bunch as a result of Communism. I've read a lot about mainland Chinese office workers quitting Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Singaporean companies because of the "attitudes" and the office culture their superiors impose on them. Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, so I'd expect some extra formalities involved in the offices. Interestingly enough, since the mainland companies are eager to emulate foreign corporate cultures, a good portions of them are adopting the formalities from its Asian neighbors. Though to balance things out many companies are also going for the more casual tones of western firms. It'd be interesting to see how it'll work out. Assembly line workers are a different story. They are pretty much all treated like crap, since they are considered a lower social class because of their rural births and the lack of legal permits (and thus forfeiting many rights) to live in the cities. This is the major source of social unrest in China, it's mostly unreported in the west, and it's a much greater threat to the government than all the ethnic conflicts you hear in the media.