A "low racial self-esteem" does not necessarily reflect self-hatred, but rather an ethical and cultural stance that favours self-criticism as a driving force for progress. Confucianism teaches that the individual must always strive to improve, often to the detriment of self-approval. Unlike some Western cultures, which value self-assertion and individualism, In fact, what is interpreted as "low self-esteem" is just a manifestation of this cultural humility. Their cultural heritage pushes them to avoid arrogance, unlike other cultures imported from the West which are arrogant, while dragging along their problems and producing nothing.