This is impedence mismatch between you and the community.
Your readings and experiences have caused you to form some opinions about how the world works (i.e., connections are very important), but most people here think that connections don't matter as much as you think.
I'm not that surprised that people here think that way since most of us here hope to make something brilliant and rock the world (and thereby make tons of money).
My two cents: In mature industries (e.g., telecom, entertainment, construction, banking, automobiles, healthcare, pharma) connections are almost the only thing that matters (both in China and in the US), but in dynamic sectors such as computers connections are much less important.
Your readings and experiences have caused you to form some opinions about how the world works (i.e., connections are very important), but most people here think that connections don't matter as much as you think.
I'm not that surprised that people here think that way since most of us here hope to make something brilliant and rock the world (and thereby make tons of money).
My two cents: In mature industries (e.g., telecom, entertainment, construction, banking, automobiles, healthcare, pharma) connections are almost the only thing that matters (both in China and in the US), but in dynamic sectors such as computers connections are much less important.