Aside from the issues mentioned here, I want to quote a few other cultural issues observed by Chinese expats in India. They complain that Indians are eloquent speakers, but they are not able to get much concrete done. The attitude that “results meant everything” in Chinese culture is totally missing in India.

The other related issue is lack of respect of other people. Chinese have observed that Indians usually do not keep their promise with others. When they made a mistake, the Chinese acknowledged the mistake and promised it would not happen again. The Indians found various strange excuses and the result is that the same thing happens again in future.

There is a third cultural issue observed by the expats. The first two issues may not be unique to Indians - there are no shortage of Chinese people focusing on the fa?ade and I have yet to find anyone I know completely immune to personal pride. The issue is selfishness in personal matters and lack of proper sense of civil duty to the society. The expats pointed out that most Indians they encountered does not really care about the welfare about the society as a whole. Rather it is their daily bread and butter matters first and foremost. While they are eager to ask for rights of education, it is totally legal for the Indians to ask their children quit school at a young age. In China, it is both a right to be educated and a duty to send children to school to get educated. The rights-duty correspondence is instilled in Chinese public. It is astounding to the Chinese expats that for a country boasts the rule of law, this is not true.

Imagine yourself as a young Indian entrepreneur in India hiring new employees. Do you want to hire people who talks a lot in conferences, but having achieved no tangible results? If you are an employee in the company, do you want to work with people who always comes late and missing the project deadline? Imagine that you are a shareholder and a member of the board. Do you want to meet with people who always cut corners in private affairs, and having no proper sense of the welfare of the company as a whole?

Hopefully the situation will change in future when the whole Indian society changes. In fact, the Chinese often say that “we used to be like India”. In many aspects Chinese society is having serious issues that need improvement as well, just as Japan in 1980s.