We don't think in terms of foreign like Chinese do. We may describe people by their specific nationality since, unlike average Chinese people, we have some basic knowledge about the characteristics of various nations.
We more often ignore the fact that people from other countries are foreigners, since we realise that everyone in the world has more similarities than differences. I have never heard the word foreigner used to describe someone in Canada, despite the fact that there are very many in our country.
This difference in thinking shows how western culture is an international culture built on ancient relations between everyone from India to Norway. In history China was divided from the world by deserts, mountains, and sea, so it's more culturally insular. The idea of the week comes from Sumaria, the 24 hours of the clock from Babylon, the numerals from India, monotheism from Persia or the Levant, law from Rome, science from Greece, and industry from Britain. For most of history China had no outside influences, and in the Ming they decided that given the choice they didn't want any.
