I have always thought the Chinese are capitalistic in their DNA. There have been Chinese traders in Africa, back before Greece was a power.

I had a friend that was half Chinese and he had multitudes of recent immigrant relatives live in their house and then move to another relative and they pooled their money. Even though these relatives all spoke different dialects and could not communicate with each other that did not stop them.

Communism imposed by the state was not a good fit on the Chinese people. Note the amount of substitution of chemicals in Chinese products just to make a greater profit. Quality control, not so good.

Russia had maybe too many centuries of absolute rule that have affected their psyche.

I thought one of the great failures of post Soviet time was the failure to change their laws to reflect the primacy of private property. From the idea that one owns oneself and the fruits from their labor and all that buys leads to a sense of freedom.

It seems only the Cossacks were granted that status with the right to be armed.