confucian

Though ironically enough mainland China is probably the least Confucian of the bunch as a result of Communism.

Whilst Shintoist Japanese were involved in horrible atrocities Shintoism, at least Confucian Shintoism, historically was quite anti-war.

But because of deeply ingrained Confucian cultural values about submission to elders, there's little they can do about it.

They complain as you do the lack of spontaneity in a society following confucian order.

Japan (and any Confucian culture) shames people who do not accept their traditional roles.

Thirdly, the author confuses Confucian tradition (family lineage oriented for 2000+ years) and eugenics.

A lot of that has to do with a hierarchical Confucian culture.

The top bosses in Beijing say X, and that gets filtered down and translated through 10-20 Confucian layers of beaurcracy, at the bottom, the emperor is far away, as they say.

But all those places were Confucian long before they became successful.

Those envoys adopted the gowns of the Mandarin class, grew long beards and even couched their gospel message in Confucian terms to make it more palatable.

It's one of the last places on Earth where Confucian ethics still hold a great deal of sway at all levels of society (for now, at least).

Imagine if the linux community consisted mostly of Korean or Japanese males, both countries with strong Neo-confucian values of social hierarchy and mutual respect, avoiding harsh words.

There's some ideas that float around that various Confucian "values" contributed to this surge, hard work, education etc.

Someone once told me, "Even when building the imperial palace, they always leave one place unfinished." In both Buddhist and Confucian writings of the philosophers of former times, there are also many missing chapters.

The Sinic civilisation has been following a cycle swinging the pendulum between Taoism "spontaneity" and Confucian "filial piety and benevolence" for the past two thousand years, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Other cultures (like Silicon Valley, Christianity, or some Confucian cultures like China and Japan) are much more "turn the other cheek" - when someone slights you, you refuse to associate with them and instead focus on building up yourself and your relationships so that your personal life improves, figuring that they'll get their come-uppance eventually.

They are all pretty Confucian, but China is a lot more heterogeneous (in culture at least) than Japan or Korea.

The major Confucian-derived modern states are China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, arguably Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Confucian ancestor worship is the only system of ethics that comes close to that (and it's about the extended family) - but I doubt that's what you meant.