Would you say the majority of Chinese people value formal education more so than people from most other cultures though?

This may stem from the Imperial Examination which has its origins in 605 CE. (I am not a historian, so please correct me if you have better information/evidence.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination

From my observation, the focus on and respect for education seem true for most of East Asia as well as their diasporas.