That’s what they also said about Japan in the early 1930s. They loved baseball and western entertainment.
It all changed, overnight.
“It all changed, overnight.”
All it took was the high cost of raw materials and a scarcity of petroleum oil....
I am not saying that China is not a military rival, just that culturally, they are less strange to Americans than modern Japan. The other reply mentioned Iran. Iran had, I believe, Sharia law even while the Shaw was in power.
For better or worse, the Cultural Revolution in China did revolutionize the culture. There isn’t much “Traditional” Chinese culture left. It has been merged with Western ideas and concepts. It is no surprise that it would include food