Reddit reviews Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World (Belfer Center Studies in International Security)

Lee Kuan Yew, the late former leader of Singapore, talked a lot about geopolitics and the effect of China's rise in particular.
https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kuan-Yew-Insights-International/dp/0262019124

I don't know much about this one but it looks interesting:
"Non-Western International Relations Theory: Perspectives On and Beyond Asia (Politics in Asia)"
https://www.amazon.com/Non-Western-International-Relations-Theory-Perspectives/dp/0415474744

I'm currently reading and rereading:

• Sapiens:A Brief History of Humankind
  
  
• When Breath Becomes Air
  
  
• Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States and the World.
  
  

Yes, my point was the actual problem, your statement, "people are put down for being smart..." is a symptom of watching too much TV, sensationalized media, too much time on facebook, and too little time reading books and good periodicals. Basically, people have stopped participating in civil society, and instead focus on working and shopping, spending basically 0 time on civil society.

There have been many big pop culture books over the decades on this topic, from "Habits of The Heart" to "A Nation of Strangers". These are both really old books, but I don't know of more modern books of the 21st century.

Wait, China needs to adopt some of our social behavior? Asia well regards our social behavior and lack of civility as our biggest downsides. The positives we have are individualism, which has little to do with our social norms.

The book on Lee Kuan Yew made this point for the way Asia views civil society in America today.

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kuan-Yew-Insights-International/dp/0262019124

Adam Ferguson in his Essay Part VI discusses the decline at length. Even tho it was written long ago, I think it applies today.

Wow you really are full of yourself. Honestly, you're not coming off as very knowledgeable of anything, quite frankly.

Read:

https://www.amazon.com/Destined-War-America-Escape-Thucydidess/dp/0544935276

https://www.amazon.com/Can-Asians-Think-Kishore-Mahbubani/dp/9814276014

https://www.amazon.com/When-China-Rules-World-Western/dp/0143118005

https://www.amazon.com/World-Disarray-American-Foreign-Policy/dp/0399562362

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kuan-Yew-Insights-International/dp/0262019124

Yang is Taiwanese. He was born in New York, went to Exeter (the No.1 private high school in the US) and Brown. He got his law degree from Columbia University. He does not even speak Mandarin. (or just a little bit) His career was all about tech startups and created thousands of jobs for America. I am curious how you would become worry that he has any connection with the PRC. Taiwan and US are alliances!

I am from mainland China but I spent 6 years in the US, legally. Full scholarship and full-time job. I was quite surprised to find out about the misunderstandings between America and Chinese people. I wish you could one day visit China and see how different it is from the narratives you read about in your media.

For the meantime, I would recommend you to read the former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan-Yew’s opinion about China and US. Probably this book by a Harvard professor:

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kuan-Yew-Insights-international/dp/0262019124/

Lee as the third-party and one of the best country leaders provide a lot of insights in this book.

OP isn't looking for neutral, he's looking for insights into how Singapore came to be. My recommendation: Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World. Not a book written by LKY, but a collection of his thoughts.