But i think people of different countries are different in mentality, due to a lot of factors.
People in a Hot climate are more laid back than people in a more colder climate.
Hot weather can be tiring. Also who want’s to be cooped up in an office all day in beautiful weather.
Look at southern europe. The south of italy and spain are relatively less well off or poorer that the North.
Or look at Europe in General. The Nortern most countries of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark are the richest countries in Europe and the world. While as you venture south of Europe you come to the poorest regions of Europe.

You might say people of the south are lazier than people of the north. But i don’t go with this. Probably people of the south are more sociable and less lonely than people of the north, where family and sociable occasions are less important.

So to get to the point. If, for example, Germany takes ten years to become a fully fledged first world economy but it takes italy for example 20 years, does that mean germans are better than italians?

No i don’t think so. It just means we are all different.
Not all the same. What a boring world it would be if we were!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3852891107486285806&q=municator

A Taiwanese business man, a poorest Chinese village, a five-star international conference center, IT labs in rural village schools, connection between rural village students to best schools, and of course the focal point is the poverty reduction by using IT…

If China is down, then for the west the next target will be India.

I often wondered about India economy lacking behind China considering India is a democratic country (officially anyways but not always in practice) and had the opportunity to modernize decades before China. However, I believe that historical experiences, cultural habits and present circumstance do play a big role in a country development.

The world had always been fascinated with China and its culture. This is simple a
fact. Going back to ancient times, starting with the silk road, the world had demands for chinese export and taste. One of the contributing factor for the fall of the roman empire, some historians argue, was the obsession with chinese products especially silk. Centuries later, modern europe was obsessed with other chinese goods like porcelains, tea etc. Besides europe, other peoples were also fascinated with its culture. In east asia, countries like japan, korea, vietnam etc was heavily influenced by ancient China. In islam there is a tradition that said, muslim were encouraged to venture into China to learn everything from them except its religion. Fast forward a few centuries later, and the world is still very interested in China.This fascination turned out to be a plus for the chinese.

China is considered by modern historians (both western and chinese) as having the most continuous civilization on earth. It is not the oldest compared to other civilizations like Egypt, but unlike egypt it continued to exist in a single development to the present day. One of the strength of the chinese people had always been the confidence and appreciation of its own culture and long history. When foreign influences came into the country, the chinese were able to take what they deemed as important influences and changed it to make it their own. Buddhism for example as many of you had mentioned came from India. That is a fact. However, the buddhism that influenced China and the rest of Asia differ greatly from the Indian model. This form of buddhism, the east asian branch, is so sinized and heavily influenced by native chinese thoughts and philosophies, that it is no longer Indian. One thing to note is that China was never a buddhist country despite the popularity of buddhism.

This ability to adapt “foreign cultural” changes is one the strength of the chinese people. I believe that compared to India, the general population of India are more resistant to change and fearful of foreign influence. A few years ago in the news, there was great resistance towards western influences like valentines etc.
There is no right and wrong, just the way it is. One of the biggest lesson the Chinese learned from their history was not accepting change when it closed its doors to the world in the last century. After all, the chinese had an earlier start than the japanese to modernize. Which is why the motivation is there to catch up with the developed world.

One thing to note is that one of the biggest export from Britain to China is teaching english. The Chinese are learning english at an eccelerated rate that many predicted it will have the world largest english speaking population, after mandarin ofcourse. Which in my opinion is not a good thing for India, considering India pride itself for able to attract the IT world by having a good population that speak english.

However, it is important to note that India for example is still “shackled” by age of traditions like the caste system or religion. I remember one time a few of my fellow co-workers who were of Indian descent did not like each other and the explanation given was the colours of each other skins. And don’t let me go into religion. I heard enough from my friends who are hindus, sikh and muslim (all ethnic Indians).

One thing to note is that religion does not play a great part in China (ancient or present) when compared to India or to the rest of the world. Historians described the chinese as practical.
One can argue that the chinese did have a religious life but not to the extant of other cultures.Since ancient times, the elites of China were heavily influenced by confucius philosophies which concern itself how to organized and operate society in general. The dominant head of China is the emperor whom officially do not
represent any religion.
During the age of enlightenment in Europe, Confucius was considered the “unofficial” patron saint of humanism
On the other hand, India was generally more focus on its religions. Its society is
dominated by its religious beliefs. Personally, it is harder to change a society if it is still heavily influenced by age old religious traditions, especially traditions that organize people in different social classes. I remember one time reading a historian passage about India as a land drunk and obsessed with millions of gods.
It is no coincidence that as europe modernized its society, its religions also went through a change. But then again, India did not have communism, which in China’s experience tore away its old, traditional bound society.

China had always been a rich country. I remember reading a newspaper article that the bank of Shanghai was the richest bank in the world up until the 19th century. When european colonial powers were knocking on China’s door, their original intension was for trade especially, england and portugal. It did not attempt to conquer China like they did on India. In the end, it only managed to control some areas.

Last but not least, I do believe that China has a more effective government than India. The advantage of having a communist government at this stage of the country development is having the control and ability to implement change. India had too many political parties and no party is strong enough to do any change not to mention the political corruptions at the top. This is not to say that the chinese government does not have corruptions. But I think it is clear to everyone what a strong goverment can do for a country especially China aggresive search for natural energy, building the world biggest hydroelectric dam etc. People in the West are so easily to criticize China because it is a communist country but don’t forget that it was very effective when it was only last century it managed to drive away foreign colonial powers from its shores. It managed to reclaim former territories unlike India who was conquered by foreign powers and whose territories was forever separated.

But more important to us in the modern times, this so called red country managed to lift 400 million people out of poverty in just a few decades. I mean people talk about the rights of freedom of speech, individual rights etc but what use are they if their basic needs are not met like starvation and basic shelter? Let’s talk about those democratic values when every child and woman has at least 3 meals a day and a roof over their head first. Which I think in the near future, China will move towards that direction. Maybe not democratic in the american sense but definitely a more democratic society.

India should quiet down, tries to understand what she needs. Neither looking at the west nor China would provide enlightenment. India is a great civilization. Her greatness is unique, so is her weakness.