Laws and Leaders

A Chinese person told me something I thought was worth passing along, for those of you who are interested in Chinese culture:

In China, people do not have a lot of respect for laws, but they deeply respect their leaders and do not question them or criticize them (at least, not openly). The leader of the country is like the father at the head of the family: you do what the leader tells you to do because he is the leader.

But in the West, people often criticize, question, and make fun of their leaders. Leaders are people just like everyone else. But laws are taken very seriously (usually) and people keep the laws outside of getting caught. They follow rules because because it is the right thing to do.

For what it's worth, I think this is an accurate summary of some of the differences between China and the West, based on my observations here.