No Flag Waving, Please, We're Chinese

One small quirk I noticed in China that surprised me was the almost complete absence of Chinese flags. For some reason, I expected a country with a totalitarian government and a relatively high degree of cultural cohesion to exhibit more outward nationalism. I definitely think the Chinese have an immense amount of nationalistic pride, but we do see a much greater display of flags in the US and Canada (and I know you Canucks won't believe it, but Canadians are just as big of flag wavers as Americans are).