I had travelled through parts of the Peoples' Republic of China and lectured in institutions in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai four years before Tienamen Square uprising and its suppression, and then was in the same site on the sixth anniversary of its put down. China has modernized considerably in material measures, but seems to have made slow going in liberalization.
Japan, in contrast, seems to be the hypermature capitalist state, in which the very socialized highly competitive industrial-strength perfectionists are so driven as to have created a coronary culture for themselves in which quality of life has decreased with their advance.
Taiwan, and the other Asian tigers, appear to have studied American methodology so well that they do it annoyingly better than the originators. Productivity is high in everything from tennis rackets to umbrellas (and eight other everyday products in which the Taiwanese are world leaders.) In all of the Asian audiences, I would have difficulty in initiating discussion, since junior experts (let alone students) would not think of questioning their elders and esteemed foreign guests. Disagreement would be very disrespectful.