Pathbreakers? Hmmmmmm...I have to say that I haven't seen to much of this philosophy from the Chinese people I have met.

Students: 90% of the sentences they utter begins with ..."In China..." So that tells me they rely on their vast history for guidance and have already made their minds up on what society is and consequently what it will be.

Parents/adults: I am constantly amazed at the level of apathy in this group. The word ambitious is not one I would use to describe them for the most part. I know countless people that have "jobs" and are totally content (maybe that's not the right word) with their 9 to 5 existence as they wait for the government to make decisions and spearhead initiatives. Most of which include construction of some sort or copying ideas from other countries. They watch the 7pm news religiously and tend to agree with everything they see. Thinking outside the box is rare, at least it has been so far in my 6+ years here. My wife constantly tells me that I can't do this or I can't do that. "Derek, In China we don't do that". And don't get me started on her mother and her opinions regarding my different way of thinking or problem solving ethics.

I guess there are some forward thinkers out there but I bet they get bombarded with red tape and resistance. The status quo reigns supreme. The changes we see being made are mostly cosmetic. That doesn't take too much foresight in my opinion. Anyone could put a facade on an unsightly object. 

This is a big topic with many facets. I know I have just skimmed the surface here so I'm looking forward to other input.

If there are I am not aware of any. The impression I get is that China is changing slowly. I know in terms of business and adopting some western ideas and business China seems to be changing quickly, but at a personal level of the ordinary guy in the street it seems to be changing slowly. Culture plays a part, education plays a part and so does political thinking. Culturally it is the whole middle kingdom thing that settles China at the centre of the world in peoples thoughts and that you are either Chinese or not. Education has a lot to answer for as generally people are not taught to think independently of what they are taught/told and are not activly encouraged to look for alternative ways of doing things. Politically people are not encouraged to think for themselves and rely too much on the government to do the right thing for them, and of course so many believe everything they hear in the media. When these three things are taken into consideration  is it any wonder that there do not appear to be many pathfinders as this does require alternativce ways of thinking.

I believe the changes will come via the young people in China. Many of them have been exposed to more foreign films, ideas, education establishments and through meeting foreign people here in China. However it still surprises me how little knowledge ordinary people have of anything outside of China. This opening up of ideas will be passed onto their children and their grandchildren, but to see more open thinking I believe is still two or three generations away at grass routes level. Even my wife who went to college here and lived with me in England for over four years still amazes me sometimes when I ask her to think something through, her answer can simply be "I don't know". A good example was the discussion we had at the dinner table with my mother in law about the rate of growth in GDP in China, which they felt was very good. Later in the conversation they were complaining about the cost of everything going up. It was a difficult task to try and get them to see there was a connection between the two. Here we are back to education again, and I guees it all comes down to education. I remember years ago hearing someone say the biggest advantage they got from university was being taught how to think clearly. Until people here are able to think clearly for themselves and to question things openly I do not think we are going to see the emergence of many pathfinders at all.