I get the impression that the idea that Chinese culture is somehow more naturally accepting of authoritarianism is part of a propaganda narrative promoted by Chinese authoritarians to protect their own power.

> China Takes Aim at Western Ideas

> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/asia/chinas-new-lead...

> Communist Party cadres have filled meeting halls around China to hear a somber, secretive warning issued by senior leaders. Power could escape their grip, they have been told, unless the party eradicates seven subversive currents coursing through Chinese society.

> These seven perils were enumerated in a memo, referred to as Document No. 9, that bears the unmistakable imprimatur of Xi Jinping, China’s new top leader. The first was “Western constitutional democracy”; others included promoting “universal values” of human rights, Western-inspired notions of media independence and civic participation, ardently pro-market “neo-liberalism,” and “nihilist” criticisms of the party’s traumatic past.

There is no basis to assume that cultures are similar in their power distance. More traditional cultures generally have more power distance.

Whose propaganda is the higher acceptance of authority of Americans compared to many European countries?

PDI (Power distance index):

    81   MEXICO
    80   CHINA
    68   HONG KONG
    58   TAIWAN
    54   JAPAN
    40   UNITED STATES
    31   SWEDEN
    18   DENMARK

http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimen...

That was new (for me) and interesting, thanks for posting that. I'm actually surprised to see such a small distance between e.g. Germany and USA, where I observed much more power disparity. Possibly because Germans are, as a whole, "closer" to each other in relative power, but at the same time more accepting of the idea of a constituted authority which rules over them? It might be nice to see these values reported independently (Actually trying to figure out if this is what the other indexes IDV MAS UAI LTO represent).

*Edit Never mind they're different indicators: Power Distance Index | Individualism | Masculinity | Uncertainty Avoidance Index | Long-Term Orientation