中國文明是東方文明的代表，歷史上東方文明和西方文明是各領風騷、各有特點的，就物質力量而言，在過去兩千年的大多數時間內，亞洲是世界的燈塔。但是由於近代的落後，工業革命的思想基礎和客觀物質基礎在亞洲地區都並不具備，而文藝復興和地理大發現直接引領了西方的崛起和稱霸世界。在美版知乎Quora上，美國網友提問道：亞洲人尤其是東亞人是最聰明的，但如何解釋西方文明又是最先進的？這個問題引起各國網友的熱議，我們看看他們的觀點。
問題
德國網友羅素•約翰斯的回答
There are genetic differences between them. In some other groups, Europeans have more drd47 repeat alleles than East Asians.
二者遺傳學上存在差異。在其他一些群體中，歐洲人有更多的DRD47重複等位基因，而東亞人根本沒有。
The significance of this gene is that people with this allele are more likely to pursue adventure and have higher curiosity. This is why most of the Nobel prizes are awarded to western countries, while few other countries. To invent and discover, you need a combination of intellectual curiosity and high IQ.
該基因的意義在於，具有該等位基因的人更容易追求冒險，並具有更高的好奇心。這就是為什麼絕大部分的諾貝爾獎都頒給了西方國家，而其他國家幾乎沒有。為了發明和發現，你需要智力好奇心和高智商相結合。
There are more short alleles of the serotonin transporter gene in the East Asian population, which is closely related to conformity and attention to group / collectivism rather than individualism.
東亞人群中有更多的5-羥色胺轉運體基因的短等位基因，這與從眾和對群體/集體主義的關注密切相關，而不是個人主義。
The frequency of the long allele is only 20% in East Asians and 60% in Europeans. The Ashkenazi Jews are very lucky. Their average IQ is very high. In addition to these characteristics mentioned above, they occupy a dominant position among Nobel Prize winners and scholars.
長等位基因的出現頻率在東亞人中僅為20%，而在歐洲人中為60%。德系猶太人非常幸運，他們的平均智商非常高，加上上面提到的這些特點，因而在諾貝爾獎得主和學者中佔據了主導地位。
IQ itself is not enough. Although I think many East Asians are extremely smart, they are good at studying and understanding existing systems and theories, but they are not very good at discovering by themselves.
智商本身是不夠的，儘管我認為許多東亞人聰明絕頂，可他們善於研究和理解已有的系統和理論，但不太善於自己發現。
There are not many inventions from Asia. Among the 10 most innovative countries, seven are European countries, the United States is the eighth among western countries, and South Korea and Singapore are the remaining two. The world would not have developed if it had not been for the novelty seeking behavior of the West in the past few centuries.
來自亞洲的發明並不多。在10個最具創新性的國家中，有7個是歐洲國家，美國是西方國家中的第8個，而韓國和新加坡則是剩下的兩個。如果不是前幾個世紀西方的求新行為，世界不會向前發展。
英國網友波泰戈爾的回答
Have you ever thought that it might not be wise to use your racial prejudice to understand the world and how it works?
你有沒有想過，也許用你的種族成見來理解世界及其運作方式並不明智？
Europe has not only smart people, but also promoted the rise of Europe's small countries, dominated huge empires and conquered the world.
歐洲擁有的不僅僅是聰明的人，這些人還推動了歐洲蕞爾小國的崛起，主宰了巨大的帝國，征服了世界。
The most important point is the willingness to seek foreign knowledge, test its principles to find the basic laws of nature, and then innovate according to these findings.
這其中最重要的一點是願意尋求外國知識，測試其原理以發現自然的基本規律，然後根據這些發現進行創新。
Europeans acquired knowledge from China, Persia, India and the Ottoman Empire, and transformed it from an isolated curiosity into a coherent understanding of natural law, which we now call science.
歐洲人從中國、波斯、印度和奧斯曼帝國獲得了知識，並將其從個人孤立的好奇轉變為對自然法的連貫理解，我們現在稱之為科學。
Both Spain and Britain independently invented the steam engine to pump water in the 17th century, and sowed the seeds of turning from biological power to mechanical drive.
西班牙和英國都在17世紀獨立發明了蒸汽機抽水，並播下了從生物動力轉向機械驅動工作的種子。
The economic benefits are almost incalculable.
這在經濟上的好處幾乎無法估量。
Thomas Newcomen's steam engine in 1712 was the first commercially successful steam engine. Please note that this is the starting point of the Industrial Science explosion.
1712年托馬斯·紐科門的蒸汽機是第一台商業上成功的蒸汽機。請注意，這是工業科學大爆炸的起點。
All non industrial societies can only make this number linearly proportional to their population, and science and technology is a force multiplier that can transform it into geometric growth.
所有非工業社會只能使這一數字與其人口成線性比例，而科技是一種力量倍增器，可以將其轉化為幾何增長。
Applying this new force to the manufacture of previously expensive and advanced weapons, such as firepower, and using the spare time obtained by machines rather than manpower to train professional troops will greatly improve efficiency and save costs.
將這種新的力量應用於製造以前昂貴和先進的武器，如火器，並利用機器而不是人力獲得的空閑時間來訓練專業軍隊，這將極大地增進效率，節約成本。
Why don't East Asian countries do this? This is not complicated. Because they value tradition, stability, obedience to authority and respect for superiors. Of course, it also gives countries in the region a different type of power.
東亞國家為什麼不這樣做？這並不複雜。因為他們重視傳統、穩定、服從權威、尊重上級。當然，它也給了該地區國家一種不同類型的力量。
Most of Europe's greatest innovators are young people. They know how to prove their teachers wrong, and then publicly prove it, and compete with their peers and superiors for recognition.
歐洲最偉大的創新者大多是年輕人，他們知道如何證明自己的老師錯了，然後公開證明，並與同齡人和上級爭奪認可。
In a society where respect for age and seniority is more important than correctness, this is not a good way to succeed.
在一個尊重年齡和資歷比正確更重要的社會裡，這不是一個取得成功的好方法。
That is to say, the East Asian countries are much more advanced than any other countries in such a long time. They are proud to comment on those small countries outside the region, but they do not know that they have quietly surpassed themselves. This is not much different from the way Europe and the United States view themselves.
也就是說，東亞各國在這麼長的時間裡比其他任何國家都先進得多，他們高傲得評點着那些域外小國，卻不知他們已經悄悄地超過了自己。這與歐洲和美國目前看待自己的方式沒有太大區別。
外國政治經濟學專家奧馬爾的回答
This is the so-called "high level balance trap".
這就是所謂的“高水平平衡陷阱”。
中國/China
Ancient China had everything it needed for its empire. Wealth, manpower and resources. They do not need anything from the outside world, which is why the Ming Dynasty only sent Zheng He to travel around the world to show China's strength and progress, not to colonize the less developed countries. This level of comfort makes people lazy, doesn't it?
古代中國擁有自己帝國所需要的一切。財富、人力和資源。他們不需要來自外部世界的任何東西，這也是為什麼明朝只派鄭和週遊世界，目的是展示中國的實力和進步，而不是對欠發達國家的殖民。這種程度的舒適會讓人懶惰，不是嗎？
In addition, in the Qing Dynasty at the end of the 19th century, China's strength declined seriously, and they did not see the need for progress. Needless to say, the court was so corrupt that the gunpowder and sand used in the war during the first Sino Japanese war were mixed together, which led to one of the most humiliating failures in Chinese history.
此外，在19世紀末的清朝，中國的實力嚴重衰退，他們沒有看到進步的需要。更不用說，朝廷腐敗嚴重，以至於第一次中日戰爭期間用於戰爭的火藥與沙子混在一起，反而導致了中國歷史上最屈辱的失敗之一。
日本/Japan
Japan also initially resisted Westernization. In fact, they practiced for nearly 230 years until an American named Matthew Perry of the US Navy arrived in Japan with four warships and asked Japan to open up the country.
日本最初也抵制西方化。事實上，他們練習了近230年，直到美國海軍一名名叫馬修·佩里（Matthew Perry）的美國人帶着4艘軍艦抵達日本，要求日本開放這個國家。
He issued a one-year ultimatum to Japan and threatened to wage war if Japan did not sign the agreement. Japan had no choice but to agree to the terms of the United States. Therefore, the shogunate general signed the Kanagawa convention, establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States, thus opening the era of Westernization in Japan.
他向日本發出了一年的最後通牒，同時威脅說，如果日本不簽署協議，就發動戰爭。除了同意美國的條款，日本別無選擇，因此幕府將軍簽署了《神奈川公約》，在日本和美國之間建立了正式外交關係，從而開啟了日本的西化時代。
朝鮮半島/Korea
In the middle and late period of the Korean era, the DPRK also implemented the policy of closing the country to the outside world until the "Sherman incident". Five years later, in another incident, the DPRK was forced to sign a trade treaty with Japan, and finally signed a treaty with the United States in 1882, promising to abide by international norms relating to the treatment of prisoners. These treaties ended centuries of isolationism, whose military power was so weak that Japan could "enter" and colonize the entire Korean Peninsula without any major resistance.
朝鮮在朝鮮時代中後期也實行閉關鎖國政策，直到“謝爾曼將軍事件”。五年後，朝鮮在另一次事件中被迫與日本簽署貿易條約，並於1882年最終與美國簽署了一項條約，承諾遵守有關囚犯待遇的國際規範。這些條約結束了幾個世紀的孤立主義，其軍事力量當時如此之弱，以至於日本可以“走進”並在沒有任何重大抵抗的情況下殖民整個朝鮮半島。
歐洲/Europe
All East Asian countries have enjoyed centuries of relative peace without any major war. On the other hand, Europe is constantly involved in war. When needed, the first thing people do is to create solutions. As the saying goes, "need is the mother of invention".
所有東亞國家都享有幾百年的相對和平，沒有任何重大戰爭，而另一方面，歐洲則不斷捲入戰爭，在需要時，人們做的第一件事是創造解決方案。俗話說：“需要是發明之母”。
Finally, East Asia (including Singapore with 75% of East Asian ancestry) is indeed recorded as having the highest IQ level in the world.
最後，東亞（包括75%的東亞血統的新加坡）確實被記錄為擁有世界上最高的智商水平。
We can see today's progress level, because many of the world's top companies are dominated by East Asian companies.
我們可以看到今天的進步水平，因為世界上許多頂級公司都由東亞公司主導。
The United States is also doing its utmost to block the "made in China 2025" plan, because American think tanks believe that this is "a real threat to the US technological leadership". Therefore, the United States launched a trade war in an attempt to undermine the plan. However, this has also successfully strengthened the Chinese people's belief that "made in China 2025" is a necessary plan.
美國也在竭盡全力阻止“中國製造2025”計劃，因為美國智庫認為這是“對美國技術領導地位的真正存在威脅”。因此，美國發起了貿易戰，試圖破壞這一計劃。但這也成功地加強了中國人的信念，即“中國製造2025”是一個必須進行的計劃。
瑞典網友傑森的回答
From the long-term history of 3000 years, the most advanced and richest region at that time has always been China. Other regions have rivaled or surpassed it in a short time (the Mongolian Empire, the British Empire, India and the United States), but in the end, China's huge population enables it to create wealth and innovation, thus maintaining this historical trend.
從3000年的長期歷史來看，當時最先進、最富裕的地區一直是中國。其他地區曾在短時間內與之匹敵或超越（蒙古帝國、大英帝國與印度、美國），但最終，中國龐大的人口使其能夠創造財富和創新，從而保持這一歷史趨勢。
Until 1600, China was the most populous country in the world, with more than 100 million people. There are also times when China's technology is used by other countries for destructive purposes. There are also times when China has experienced periods of instability and stagnation, but generally speaking, these periods are temporary.
直到1600年，中國還是世界上人口最多的國家，有超過1億人口。也有一些時候，中國的技術被其他國家用於破壞性目的，也有一些時間，中國經歷了不穩定與停滯交替的時期，但總的來說，這些時期是暫時的。
In fact, the richest region in the past 3000 years has been India. Unfortunately, before the independence movement from the British Empire, India was never unified as a whole.
實際上，3000年來最富裕的地區一直是印度，但不幸的是，在脫離大英帝國獨立運動之前，印度從未統一為一個整體。
In addition, the current situation is that after the Ottoman Empire conquered the more favorable Byzantine Empire, it controlled part of the Silk Road, so it was desperately seeking alternative trade routes to China and India. Colonialism is destructive in nature and will not work in the long run. It is a mechanism to reduce the distance and cost of trade with China and India. Various "innovations" and "borrowed technologies have also promoted trade with India and China.
此外，目前的狀況是因為奧斯曼帝國征服了更為有利的拜占庭帝國後，便控制了絲綢之路的一部分，因此窮困潦倒地尋求通往中國和印度的替代貿易路線。殖民主義本質上是破壞性的，從長遠來看是行不通的，它是一種減少與中國和印度貿易距離和成本的機制。各種“創新”“借來的技術也促進了與印度和中國的貿易。
The three most valuable commodities in history are silk, tea and black pepper. With the exception of American software, no other goods originating from outside China and India are more valuable than these three kinds of goods. In fact, the recorded world history revolves around the profitable trade of these three products.
歷史上最有價值的三種商品是絲綢、茶葉和黑胡椒。除美國軟件外，沒有其他源自中國和印度以外的商品比這三種商品更具價值。事實上，有記錄的世界歷史圍繞着這三種產品的有利可圖的貿易。
Once China completes the Modern Silk Road on a global scale, modernizes Africa through trade and infrastructure improvement, and becomes a major player in 5g and other fields, it will reach its peak again. It is expected that China will become the world's largest economy within 20 years. It may dominate for 300-650 years as usual.
一旦中國在全球範圍內完成現代化絲綢之路，通過貿易和基礎設施改善實現非洲現代化，並成為5G等領域的主要參與者，它將再次達到頂峰。預計中國將在20年內成為世界最大經濟體。它可能會像往常一樣主宰300-650年。
美國網友賈法爾的回答
It depends on where you are.
這取決於你在哪裡。
If you live in a non Asian country, such as the United States, most of the people you see are new immigrants. In the United States, until 1965, we prohibited Asian immigrants. From hundreds of thousands of people at that time, there are now more than 20 million Asian Americans in the United States. This growth is mainly due to immigrants, not births. Most Asian adults in the United States today were born outside the United States.
如果你生活在一個非亞洲國家，例如美國，你看到的大多數是新移民。在美國，直到1965年，我們一直禁止亞洲移民。從那時的幾十萬人開始，到現在美國有超過2000萬亞裔。這種增長主要是移民，而不是出生人口，今天在美國的大多數亞裔成年人都出生在美國境外。
Important facts about immigration:
關於移民的重要事實：
1. American immigrants are filtered, and the best is the best. Why should a country allow stupid or lazy people to emigrate?
1.美國移民是被過濾過的，優中選優的，為什麼一個國家要讓愚蠢或懶惰的人移民？
2. They work much harder than naturally born Americans: they leave behind everything they are born with and try to make full use of their opportunities, which they do not take for granted. Lazy people do not emigrate at first unless they are dragged down by family members.
2.他們工作要比自然出生的美國人努力得多：他們把自己天生的一切拋在身後，並試圖充分利用自己的機會，他們並不認為這是理所當然的。懶惰的人一開始不會移民，除非他們被家庭成員拖累。
Answer this question: on average, Asian Americans are smarter and work harder because we try not to let middle or bottom Asian Americans become Americans. There are also many hard-working and talented non Asian Americans, but their average level has been lowered by other non Asian Americans.
回答這個問題：平均而言，亞裔美國人更聰明，工作更努力，因為我們盡量不讓中間或底層亞裔成為美國人。也有很多勤奮和天才的非亞裔美國人，但他們的平均水平被其他非亞裔的美國人拉低了。
One statistic shows this tendency: about 75% of Indian adults in the United States have at least a bachelor's degree, and more than 40% have a graduate degree. For Americans as a whole, these two percentages are 33% and 13%, respectively. So Indians are highly educated, right?
一項統計數據表明了這種傾向：美國大約75%的印度裔成年人至少擁有學士學位，超過40%的人擁有研究生學位。對於整個美國人來說，這兩個百分比分別為33%和13%。所以印度人受過高等教育，對吧？
However, what is the percentage of people with a bachelor's degree in India? Maybe 10%. Indian Americans are more educated than the entire Indian population: that is why they are chosen to emigrate. This contrast is really disharmonious for many of my Indian American friends who were born in India.
然而，在印度擁有學士學位的人的百分比是多少？可能是10%。與整個印度人群相比，印裔美國人受教育程度更高：這就是他們被選擇移民的原因。這種對比對於我的許多在印度出生的印度裔美國朋友來說真的很不和諧。
An important impact is that no country has chosen the children of immigrants, so the second generation or more Americans have returned to the average level: I know that many Asian Americans born in the United States are mediocre. However, since most adult Asian Americans are the first generation / selected, and the second generation is driven by immigrant parents, one population is not smarter than another, and historical opportunities are more important. East Asia once dominated the world, but now it is the West's turn. It is just to see who can seize the turning point in history.
一個重要的影響是：沒有國家選擇移民的孩子，所以第二代以上的美國人回歸到平均水平：我知道很多在美國出生的亞裔美國人都是平庸的。但由於大多數成年亞裔美國人都是第一代/被選中的，而第二代則受到移民父母的帶動，所以一個種群並不比另一個聰明，歷史的機遇更重要。東亞曾主導世界，現在輪到了西方，只是看誰能抓住歷史的轉折周期罷了。
