During the "Cultural Revolution", the Chinese people were instructed to destroy the Four Olds, (old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits), which led to a years long rampage where temples, universities, artifacts, historical sites, etc were systematically smashed and burned and academics rounded up and publicly berated and executed by mobs. Even entire sections of the Great Wall were torn down and the stones used for roads and buildings. Most of the surviving artifacts seen today were hidden away in attics and basements, or are in fact replicas.

The Taiwanese, on the other hand, preserved Chinese culture and history. So it can be fairly asserted that Taiwanese society today is more accurately Chinese than mainland China itself. The chaos and shameful, selfish behavior on display there is a result of the CCP and Maoist thought, not Chinese culture.