Sadly for China, its football team lost to Australia in a quarter-final game at the Asian Cup last week. Around the nation crowds of fans urged their team on in front of screens in bars and teahouses and in homes.

But the cheers (and curses) had no affect on the game being played in Australia, and China lost to the better team on the day. Football is one of several sports where teamwork is essential. A few years ago I had the pleasure of discussing football in China with a prominent manager, a Chinese man who coached one of the leading clubs here and had played for several years with a major German team in the Bundesliga, the top German football league.

We talked about teamwork and he surprised me by saying that young Chinese players did not naturally appreciate teamwork. They had to be coached intensively to divest themselves of the notion that the game depended on their individual skills. Too many, the coach said, wanted to score goals by themselves and forgot or refused to pass to teammates who might have been in a better position to score or advance.

In the West teamwork is a much-prized concept. Young people are encouraged to play sports, not just for reasons involving skill, health and fitness, but because team sports train a young person to work with others. It is not always about scoring a goal - it's more about helping someone else score the goal for the glory of the team.

In the 20th century business managers took the concept of teamwork and began applying it to industry and management.

If everyone in a company works together with the same target in mind, work should be more efficient and it will be more likely for the company and its staff to succeed. In China today many Chinese companies are engaging experts or encouraging their HR departments to spur their staff to work better through teamwork exercises.

But why do Chinese, young Chinese especially, eschew this idea of working and cooperating with others for an agreed purpose on the sporting field in particular?

One of the basics of Chinese society and its philosophy is Confucianism and President Xi Jinping has been encouraging Chinese people to readopt these values. Xi delivered a keynote speech in September last year at the International Conference on the 2,565th Anniversary of Confucius' birth and the 5th Congress of the International Confucian Association, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. 

One of the core precepts of the educator and philosopher Confucius (551-479BC) was that the family was a vital part of society and that respect and honor for parents was essential. Confucianism also emphasized proper behavior, loyalty and being able to undertake the duties needed for whatever position in the world one found oneself. Which sounds very like teamwork.

Now the five key relationships in Confucianism are ruler to ruled, father to son, husband to wife, older brother to younger brother, friend to friend.

It is the fourth relationship, older brother to younger brother, that is missing in much of modern China. One child families do not have older and younger brothers - this has always been how children learn the essentials of teamwork and life. Brothers and sisters have to get along with each other. They have to take instructions from their parents and they have to learn to work with each other and respect each other.

Without this concept of sharing many young children in China have no idea about passing the ball to each other or that there are other people around that can help you if you help them.

Teamwork is not just about sport - it's about building the harmonious society that we all wish for.