Many of the difficulties we westerners have understanding the chinese culture and mentality can be alleviated by learning about the Chinese concept of “face”.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(sociological_concept)

Now this is fairly basic and often cited in discussions such as this one, but it still plays a huge role in the Chinese mindset and under which their subconscious decision-making is happening.

Interestingly this has a lot of parallels to Klingon culture and their understanding of honor, if you happen to be a trek nerd.