Japan was the first Asian country to become a global power, sometime in the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. For a while, leading up to the Second World War, it even became an imperial power, annexing territory across China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and right up to the doors of India. After their defeat in the Second World War, the Japanese nation turned pacifist and focused on rebuilding its economy, which it did so successfully that the industrialized West barely seemed to be able to keep pace. It grew to be the second largest economy in the world and remained that way for over three decades until China relegated it to third place in 2010.

The surest indicator that the philosophy of a nation has found universal acceptance is when Hollywood creates a successful movie franchise around it! The success of the Kung Fu Panda movies, which is loosely centered on the tenets of the Chinese way of life is surely ample testimony to this fact. Though one can’t be sure that the scriptwriters used the services of a Chinese translation agency to read Chinese philosophical treatises to get a real understanding of that culture, they sure managed to convey a sense of what it stood for.