Chapter 2: The Social Origins of Mind

The statement "there HAS NEVER been a strong interest in knowledge for its own sake in China. Eve n modern Chinese philosophers have ALWAYS been far more interested in the pragmatic application of knowledge than with abstract theorizing for its own sake." really made me go "????". What is this based on. And his claim saying that Chinese lacked curiosity, does not make sense to me because seeking for knowledge to achieve or attain something like higher level of occupation does not lead to such a conclusion. Curiosity is curiosity no matter what one would want from it eventually.