I think it's not the way of the East but more like an image created by westerners.
You will break this illusion by simply visiting Thailand, India, Korea or Japan. And it's hard to imagine more materialistic culture than Chinese.
I'm not saying the ideas of Hinduism or Buddhism are bad but look how people actually interpret them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma
Of course, every good insight about the proper way of living, be it of Upabishads, of Buddha or of Christ has been ruined by social institutions made by its "followers" to get a decent living out of it.
Nevertheless, the emphasis on inner rather than social development is an essence of the Indian culture.
As for China - it is too complicated. In times of the early dynasties they cultivated the same virtues - like statesmanship only for the best educated, etc but China is too big and too diverse and too dynamic to speak about it as one entity.