I was raised in China, so these inventions (the major ones) were as ingrained as the founding fathers for Americans.
Much of the Chinese pride was rooted in such golden eras of the Chinese history. Sadly, in the modern days, this pride has become a nationalistic tool and is used to brainwash people into believing that the Chinese way has been and will always be superior to the other countries', when in fact there is so much the culture can learn from the rest of the world. (I suppose you can say that about any country.)
Things are changing however, hopefully for the better.
That is interesting because in practice it looks like China is borrowing a lot of the best ideas from the rest of the world and mixing it with its society.
I've been recently studying more ancient Chinese history and the game of Weiqi (Go, as it is known in the US). Weiqi is a good way to understand the sociopolitical strategies of China. In Weiqi, it is often easier to surround and assimilate (embrace and extend) than it is to invade and conquer. If there is a grand strategy of the current political heads of China, it is to make China the pivot point of the world. America goes forth and spread democracy; I think the Chinese prefers to get other countries to orbits around them, the way the earth orbits inside the sun's gravity well.
"This article is the result of a two-week trip to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Shanghai during September '93, during which I tried to get some sense of how the Chinese perceived the influence of technology - particularly digital technology - on their culture.
The answer is that this issue hasn't occurred to the Chinese yet, and probably never will, because it basically stems from a Western, post-Enlightenment perspective. Going to China and asking people about the Hacker Ethic is like going to Peoria and talking to the folks down at Ned's Feed & Grain about Taoism. The hacking part comes to them easily enough - China is, in a sense, a nation of analog hackers quickly entering the digital realm. But I didn't see any urge to draw profound, cosmic conclusions from the act of messing around with technology. "
It's true. People's perspective has been changing recently. Plus, when you have 1.6 billion of them, you can bet a good amount of the people are forward thinking (but a lot more are backward thinking too.)
Much of the Chinese pride was rooted in such golden eras of the Chinese history. Sadly, in the modern days, this pride has become a nationalistic tool and is used to brainwash people into believing that the Chinese way has been and will always be superior to the other countries', when in fact there is so much the culture can learn from the rest of the world. (I suppose you can say that about any country.)
Things are changing however, hopefully for the better.