The Chinese Are Coming & Self Interest

Two stories on NPR Marketplace caught my attention: The first story was about the Chinese investing in the U.S. which reminds me of the Japanese in the 1980's buying Real Estate in U.S.
The Second story (commentary) is by Adam Hanft. He pointed out:

"People are positively jubilant about spending time and effort to create
videos or discover them, and then post them for free.But why? There's no
economic benefit to them. And that defies classic economic theory that says we
are all rational beings and act only in our own self-interest."

This will make an interesting discussion with the students.