Hi Qack,
I'm not sure about bullying rates in China, but in my experience, introverts are bullied at school and at work, in many Western countries. One of the most common tactics I know, conducted expertly by groups of girls at school, is social exclusion, where introverts are completely ostracised. The danger of social exclusion is explained by this extract:
"Because
inclusion in social groups has been a key to survival for social animals deep into the past, we propose that
threats to one’s social connections are processed at a basic level as a severe threat to one’s safety. In fact, we believe that such threats are partly mediated by the same system that processes physical pain because the pain system was already in place when social animals evolved adaptations for responding to social exclusion."
Source:
Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain, GM
I think that, in Eastern cultures, there is a link between suicide rates and the emphasis on achievement through hard work. However, this is nothing more than an assumption, and the only evidence I have are these WHO figures:
CHINA (Selected rural & urban areas) 1999: 13.0 males, 14.8 females per 100,000 (27.8)
CHINA (Hong Kong SAR) 1999: 16.7 males, 9.8 females per 100,000 (26.5)
JAPAN 1999: 36.5 males, 14.1 females per 100,000 (50.6)
UNITED KINGDOM 1999: 11.8 males, 3.3 females per 100,000 (15.1)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1999: 17.6 males, 4.1 females per 100,000 (21.7)
Source:
Suicide Rates, World Health Organisation
However:
"Historically,
persons who kill themselves have been regarded as introverts, internalizers,
in sharp contrast to those [extroverts] who take out their aggression on others."
Source:
The Psychology of Suicide, KVW
"The US has
18 times as many citizens per capita in prisons and jails than Japan."
Figures quoted per 100,000:
Murders
Japan: 1.4
US: 9.4
Rapes
Japan: 2.2
US: 40.3
Robberies
Japan: 1.8
US: 253
Assaults
Japan: 8.9
US: 489
Frauds
Japan: 11.1
US; 114.1
Drugs
Japan: 28.5
US: 340.3
Prisons
Japan: 35.9
US 666.7
Source:
World Incarceration and Murder Rates, The Christian Party
It is strange, that even though there is a strong emphasis on social achievement in Western cultures, there is a huge prevalance of antisocial behaviour. This brings to mind something I had read about a French psychologist who sought to help sociopaths by forcing them through months on end of highly strenuous manual labour. The aim of the project was to give the sociopaths a sense of achievement, the lack of which, as the psychologist theorised, caused antisocial behaviour. Whether this was actually a preventive measure to keep sociopaths away from the rest of society, or a "cure" that would help them integrate, I do not know.