There is obviously a very deep-rooted trust in these superstitious practices, otherwise athletes would not be doping with deer-antler infusions and scientists would not get grants to study TCM ingredients (even if the scientists themselves believe in reason/science, so much of the population adheres to TCM that it's worthwhile to investigate these subjects for their efficacy).

The government itself was complicit in promoting pseudoscience, because TCM was better than nothing at all, but such things are better left to books of ancient history, and in the modern age only serve to feed the FLG fanatics. There are still government-run TCM institutes in almost every Chinese province, how is this different from an Ayurvedic ministry?

As for all the IQ crap, if you went back in time a hundred or so years, and saw starving opium-addicted Chinese with a standard of living worse than most of sub-saharan Africa, would anyone seriously believe Chinese were smarter? Pride goeth before the fall, and those who would rest on the laurels of their previous achievments should look to the late Qing Dynasty of the present-day United States as examples of what will surely result.