tartare - There are subtle differences between the Chinese and Japanese attitudes, and national characteristics - and the differences are, the Japanese had extensive exposure to American construction styles and repair techniques at the end of WW2 - whereas the Chinese didn't.
The Americans realised the Japanese desperately needed jobs right after the end of WW2, so they engaged them to recondition all their military equipment.
The Japanese aren't slow learners, and they rapidly picked up on the American way of doing things, as regards engineering design and practices, metallurgy, workshop skills, training methods, and a host of other useful manufacturing tips, as well.
In addition, the Japanese are perfectionists and anal about many things - qualities that bode well for rapid industrial gains.
The simple reason the Japanese produced rubbish in the 1950's was that no Western country was prepared to give them the quality iron ore and other raw and exotic materials needed to improve the end-quality of their products.
Once the West relaxed in the late 1950's, and allowed Japan to acquire the superior quality raw materials they needed, Japanese product quality rose rapidly.
The Chinese on the other hand, have never been exposed to a technologically superior conquering Western force, that then allowed the conquered to acquire the conquerers technologies.
In addition, the Chinese overall have a tendency to be quite gung-ho, and they often have a tendency to lack attention to detail.
There would no doubt be more than a few sizable Chinese engineering disasters that we haven't heard about.
The current industrial revolution in China is being driven by Chinese who have spent extensive time in the West, and who have been tertiary-educated in prominent Western education centres.
These people are highly competent in English and all the sciences, and they understand Western methods of technology and production processes.
However, this group are still a considerable minority in China, and it won't be until China acquires a greater number of these people, will the Chinese then be able to match the highest technological achievements of the West.