You’re not the center of the story - at least not everywhere.

There's a profound difference in the core philosophy between the American and the Chinese, and it's a reflection of your history. You came over in the Mayflower. You were, uh, seeking religious freedom, so much so that you refused to allow it to be taught in the schools. Uh, you believed in the individual as the creator of all things. You have been immensely fortunate and successful. Two world wars left Europe in a shambles, and you emerged as the undamaged technological and industrial power.

China has a completely different and a checkered history. 4,000 to 5,000 years of ups and downs. Long periods when there was no government, anarchy. So why have they survived in spite of anarchy, disaster, floods, famines? Because there was a social network independent of government: the immediate family, the extended family, the clan. You owed them an obligation. You cannot turn them away. That's how they survived.

We are safer if we keep those family bonds, those traditional life raft systems, not dependent on the state, and not the individual at the expense of the family and the state, which is the American system. So you have Bill Gates, or you, you look up Forbes or Fortune or whatever, and 50 of the best and the brightest and the wealthiest. That's your experience. That's not China's experience. That's not our experience.