Originally Posted by NEDude

But the punishment for even a minor violation, one that would be hard to detect without a computer, is draconian and has the opposite effect of being safe. The entire world knows this with the exception of the Chinese.

One thing to keep in mind with the Chinese is that China spent the better part of a millennium trying to isolate itself from the rest of the world, including even its own neighbours. In fact China has only really tried to reach out and become part of the global community over the past 25 years or so. That is part of the reason even their neighbours have a hard time dealing with the Chinese (I am talking on a one to one and tourist type of level, not on a government level - although that is an issue as well). China in many ways has developed over the last 500+ years in an alternate reality and now is trying to make the rest of the world adapt to its ways. I always tell people that China is really a third world country with first world window dressing.