Ando, in a previous life I trained Chinese airline cadets who routinely scored 90% or more for their ATPL subjects - and still couldn't fly for nuts! Don't confuse academic ability with the skills required to safely fly an aeroplane.
That said, I don't want to make this a cultural issue (although there's plenty that could be said on that subject alone), as I have also worked with foreign students (including Chinese) who demonstrated a surprisingly good level of skill and ability in the aeroplane. However it's worth noting that these particular students had a genuine interest in all things flying-related and really wanted to fly. Unfortunately for every group of cadets I worked with (typically 25-30 students to a group), maybe three or four of them would fall within this category. The rest were just like "Stanley," with no interest in aviation other than the fact that they saw it as an opportunity to increase their financial and social standing within their community back home. And you don't have to be a foreigner to suffer from an attitude like that!