[spyckie2]

There's a theory (known as rice culture theory) that states that rice farming requires cooperation from your neighbors to farm successfully, which solidified a culture of collective values. Wheat, the Western staple, has no such requirements.

If you depended on your neighbor's cooperation, the ideals of Confucianism help the village survive.

If your neighbors were like the Americans who refuse to put on a mask, your whole village would starve to death within the generation. The theory explains why individualism was suppressed and collective values so uplifted in Chinese culture.

[yorwba]

Confucius was born in what is now Shandong province, which is far enough north to be not very suitable for rice production. The most important crop is wheat. The southern provinces where rice is more common weren't even part of the Chinese cultural sphere at the time.

The theory doesn't explain anything, since it doesn't even get the agricultural facts right.

[spyckie2]

sorry if I explained it poorly. Here's an article about it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/05/08/310477497/ri...