You’re right, they do talk of Confucianism as a very rational religion, but the beginning levels of rationality do not necessarily imply a destination. (I.E.- a linear world view with a beginning and an end) Trends toward rationality is only the beginning. You could say that Confucianism welcomed modern advances, but this is a far cry from developing them itself.

You must keep in mind that countries like China and North Korea developed Communism not as islands in the world of culture, but arguably due to the influence from western developed cultures. Karl Marx was German. Lenin was Russian.

Japan is a great example of a country who’s cyclical and extremely traditional culture resisted for years and years the onset of western culture. It was due to assimilation with modern capitalism that Japan became the industrial power that it became starting in the 1800’s.

Especially concerning your point about Latin America, you’ll have to be more specific in terms of what culture it is you say is overall cyclical. Do you mean living in Brazil, Columbia, or Peru today you would have a highly cyclical world view? I doubt it. And in fact in third world countries you can often find a mix of world views, due to what our modern (and condescending) culture would consider to be uncivilized. The civilized part is the trends in the culture to pick up economic thought and other things we call modern. The uncivilized is the old traditions and old way of life of the people in question. I’m only speaking here on how our (so-called, and according to us) modern civilized people views these cultures.

The point is that the development towards “civilization” and modern world views has never been something developed by other cultures. It has been assimilated, yes, but developed from scratch? No.

also, communism has risen in the Eastern countries as well, like China and North Korea. Was Confucious discussed in that book at all? It is often argued that confucian thought facilitates capitalism (Japan for example).