These people most likely have never been to China and know nothing of the language and culture and are just citing a shitty study to justify their preconceived bias.

Tbh i think you’re right. They are probably just bigots. But it’s now interesting to keep playing devil’s advocate…

Do you not know some places where the culture is now empathetic then other places? London versus Sheffield us just a very well known example. In general the cultures in different cities have different levels of empathy.

And IMO if the typical Londoner lived in Sheffield for a few years, he would start being more empathetic, and vice versa.