There was some discussion about ‘why Singaporeans don’t take risk’. From the time we are in the womb we are enveloped in the fear of rocking the boat.
I think people from Taiwan, China and South Korea are similar in that regard: some weird ‘bell curve meritocracy’ beliefs mixed with some weird Confucian beliefs.
Many Chinese Singaporeans like me are also culturally Christian so we also have Protestant guilt plus Confucian ‘ethics’ (duty to family), plus new nation meritocracy nonsense. There’s many things I like about the country I grew up in, but the sheer terror of competition and achievement makes Silicon Valley striving feel tame in comparison. Just with less wins, because we also don’t take risks.
I’m always reminded of this whenever people from home want me to spell out, step by step, the steps I took to get to where I am, and my only answer is just ‘I don’t know, the opposite of where you told me I should go’