I don't think this is some sort of defect in the culture but typical stuff that you encounter when living in the developing world. When you're living in a society with a large divergence between rich and poor you get a lot of hustlers. People develop a much colder harsher dog eat dog mentality. Even in tropical climates where people are generally smiling, etc.. it's just masking a much grimmer reality. People in modern middle class countries tend to respect rule of law and the "social contract" more because they feel connected to a larger community.globetrotter wrote: I live here and I don't see it.
They only have shame when you call them on it. THEN they express shame, but you have to point out to them that something should not be done, is wrong, or causes someone to lose face. If you do not point it out to them, they will do any action without limitation until they are caught.
Without some exterior social force pointing out that X behavior is shameful, NE Asians will act without boundary to infinity. Anyone who has done business with the Chinese can readily attest to this fact.
Is this all of them? No. But if you have daily dealings with them, you will encounter this concept every single day.
This just isn't true in the poorer parts of the world where everyone is out for themselves.
A lot of the unscrupulous behavior you are talking about is stuff my parents would never do and I consider them to be rather old school traditional Chinese people.
