[Zhang Fei]

While Le is here, however, she's on a mission to change her homeland's negative reputation. "Japanese have an image of China as still poor," she says, shaking her head. "But that's just not true anymore."

It's amazing how Chinese can remain delusional in the face of reality.

During one stint when Wu toiled as a janitor, his Japanese boss took the Chinese workers aside and admonished them against stealing from the offices they were cleaning, a warning never uttered to the Japanese staff.

That's because theft is a Chinese national pastime. And it's not confined to janitorial staff. Chinese workers have a reputation for being light-fingered.