I'm Hong Kong born (during colonial rule) naturalized American. But unlike most radicalized youth from Hong Kong these days I still call myself Chinese. I never actually lived in China myself save for some trips and travels, but I do have relatives in mainland, and families treat each other with nothing but respect.

My thinking is that it's not that they don't care, it's just when you're in a country of billions and every city has tens of millions of people, you would only look out for yourself and you're taught not to care. That attitude, combined with the newfound wealth among the wealthy and upper middle class where not a lot of them had exposure to western culture, education, or common courtesy that we see as the standard, now they have the means to travel outside of their home country but they retain their "carefree" attitude. Add that to the fact many of them are spoiled rich people, they're not the benchmark you want to use to measure the entire populace. When I went to Beijing, many people were friendly, courteous, and respectful. I'd imagine the asshole to normal ratio is the same as any American metropolis, but these aren't exactly the type of people who can afford the luxury of traveling abroad.

I think a few years ago the Chinese government actually asked people to behave themselves during the Beijing Olympics and again to tell its countrymen while traveling abroad to respect others when news came out about how Chinese tourists defaced the Egyptian pyramids or something.

I'd imagine when this older generation dies out, and with the increased amount of tourists that travel to and from China, the issue may correct itself, but it will take time.