China was always a barbaric place with shitty culture. It's impossible not to be considering China's massive population, China's history of being repeatedly raped and ravaged by nomadic conquerors, going through the biggest famines in recorded history, and being devastated by the deadliest civil wars in the world. Chinese people went through a TON of horrible and traumatizing shit throughout their history, and the result is a soulless insectoid race that is devoid of emotion and empathy.
Also, read up on Lu Xun, one of the most influential Chinese writers in history. He criticized the fuck out of Chinese culture and Chinese characteristics, and this was before communism and the Cultural Revolution.
People conveniently blame communism and the Cultural Revolution for most of China's current problems and disgusting culture, but the Chinese have always been like that.