Indeed they are. As I commented on here recently, it's difficult to imagine Lao Tzu beating disciples with sticks.

Nevertheless the GP raises the interesting question of why the Asian stereotype is to "attain a level in society for the sake of levelling" when a wealth of Asian religious traditions teach just the opposite. (Taoism and Buddhism aren't so different as not to have this in common.) I suspect part of the answer is that these traditions are not that widely practiced.