Don’t kid yourself. The Chinese *value* education. Those documentaries about students studying 12hours a day are not faked. There is little doubt that they are ahead of the west there.
I agree with you. The Chinese do value education. It is the only way out of the “class” that they were born in. But and it’s a big one. The education they receive is all rote. There is little to no emphasis in “thinking outside of the box”.
Mind you, my experience with them was in the 1960’s. But I don’t think that the emphasis on education has changed.