See also
Chinese culture (and to some extent Eastern Europe, and East Asia) is more serious, relative to the west, about fundamental skills (基本功), stringent, tough training
- calligraphy
- piano
- street dance contest…
- ice skating
- women’s marathon
- speed coding
In terms of sports, China and neighbors are formidable, why not stronger than the west !?
In terms of tech innovation, the west still has a better system including their education philosophy/orientation.
In math, things are more nuanced. I don’t know why Chinese mathematicians are not dominant, but quant world has high Chinese representation.
In many engineering/science subjects, students don’t need to be as precise as in quant. An 80% grasp is often good enough to get you an A.
In programming, Indian students receive less rigorous training, but not weaker in general, based on my decades of first hand observation.
My sister often says her fellow accountants are often focused on precision and missed the big picture priorities.
There are other competitive domains .. design, architecture, literature, music, visual arts, performance arts, business,