Is pragmatism really a "fantastic virtue" when people are forced away from alternatives by an overbearing government?

Is there any culture on earth that prioritizes idealism over "pragmatism", if we must use that term? What does this even look like?

There are individuals and subcultures that prioritize idealism, yes. Often they are young people. Idealistic individuals can get ground down and turned into pragmatists, but some hold onto their hopes and dreams very tightly.

I mean, one could argue that the early Soviet Union suffered from this issue. Or early revolutionary China. Cambodia is certainly an example. The french revolution might be an even better example, what with wanting to re-do the clock and calendar and such. To convert startup culture speak's "pragmatism beats idealism" into political science speak, it might come out as "rationalism has tremendous difficultly reinventing all unconscious behavior".

I wasn't aware that Chinese citizens owned the means of production ;) just looks like another authoritarian dictatorship to me.

Guess they never really tried it.

One could argue that the only system under which a citizen can own the means of production is capitalism. If you "own" something you can sell it, trade it, and otherwise use it as you wish. In any realistic version of communism these powers are transferred to a central authority instead.

Wow, even mentioning communists made you get downvoted. That's sad.

And I was being cheeky too! Such is life.