One wonders why Asians make such good students. Some say it is the family culture, which I'm sure is true, but it has always been my theory that they are such good students because of what they have to memorize and master just to become literate in their native language!
I don't know if you are right or not, but there is an interesting aspect to the Chinese language.
In every society, sophisticated ways have evolved to divide society, many of these ways would end up being distinct class barriers.
In Europe, you had the class system, royals, barons, lords, counts, princes...
In India they developed the caste system.
Even in modern Italy, they have the "problema della mezzogiorno" where it is money in the North, and connections in the South - the visible ostentation of either/or in their respective regions signal to peers how high upon the social heirarchical ladder you sit.
In China, it was the level of literacy that defined who you were. The more characters you knew, the more literate and/or educated you were. Having a very expansive knowledge of the Chinese characters was a way of demonstrating that you were not a farmer.
Other societies, have less sophisticated ways of "signalling" this gentility.
In Cyprus for example, the upper class will still grow the fingernails on their pinkies long. This demonstrates that they are incapable of working on a farm or doing any type of manual labor.