Long as in centuries long.

It's been an ongoing problem.

Honest question, do they even see it as we do, as lying, or something else? Or perhaps they see it as lying but it doesn't carry the negativity there that we here do. Or perhaps such behaviour so reflexive that truth/falsity doesn't even come into decisions. Genuinely curious for real insight.

Like the other comment said, it is a difference in cultural perspective.

I personally think it comes from the massive population. As an individual, you MUST present yourself as being the absolute best. If you're "just okay" you blend into the crowd and will never advance beyond your station.

So every minor achievement is talked up as something grander than it is.

And every major shortcoming is either ignored, or mitigated as a minor flaw.

But the Chinese culture is used to this and knows how much is legitimate and how much is BS. Us Westerns don't get it because we generally tell a less exaggerated version of the truth (not the whole truth, just less hyperbolic).

So when we realize a statement out of China is fanciful BS, we assume they're maliciously lying, when they're probably not, they just have a different cultural take on the bullshit multiplier.

But it goes the other way too.

I've had a miscommunication before because I told someone who grew up in China that something was "alright". Which as an American I meant "it's really fucking good, but I'm not ballsy enough to say so because there might be something I don't know about which will make it look like a toy". But the person I was speaking to actually thought I meant it was actually "just alright" as in very average.

Rather than waiting for answers from HN, you can easily google literature which tackles this question, including libraries. Short answer - they do see it differently.