[ta_1138]

Individualism in western countries varies quite a bit. In cross-country scores, Spain has numbers far closer to the middle east than to the US, and then Peru is closer to China than to Spain!

So your invdidualism argument is only strong if by western, you mean the anglosphere, the Netherlands and Belgium.

[byw]

Even within China, the north (wheat-growing culture) is noticeably more individualistic than the south (rice-growing culture). The south is also significantly more traditional.

Japan and Korea, despite being in North-East Asia, are rice-growing, due to their oceanic climate. Culturally they are also closer to Southern China.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44770-w

One interesting result of the study is the culture change within one generation.

[papertokyo]

This is indeed surprising. What's the source?