CaiLei · Lives in China (1975–present) Updated 1y

Why is East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam) so much more developed than South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka)? Is it because the governments there are efficient or the people are hard-working?

It is supposed that different cultures lead to different results.

China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam belong to the Sinosphere cultural circle and are influenced by Confucian culture; India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka belong to the Indosphere and are influenced by Hindu culture.

Indian culture advocates “withdraw from the world” and emphasizes personal cultivation, while Confucian culture advocates “entering the world” and emphasizes social responsibility.

Hindu culture: Advocating reincarnation and Asceticism, abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures. Indian culture is passionate about prayer and more concerned about the afterlife.

Confucian culture: “For heaven and earth, for the people, for the saints of the past to continue learning, for all ages to safeguard world peace / 為天地立心，為生民立命，為往聖繼絕學，為萬世開太平”, “To cultivate the moral self, regulate the family, maintain the state rightly and make all peaceful / 修生齊家治國平天下”. Confucian culture does not seek God and worship Buddha, and emphasizes the importance of obtaining everything one wants through self-struggle, and of living in the present moment.

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