Oh, no, I don't blame you for reading this chinese professor's book. I don't blame you at all.
I just suggest you to read more chinese books holding various stances.
After reading your saying in IDF and WAB, I must say you read too many books about chinese history, which make you incapable of telling the difference between the day beofore yesterday and today.
Chinese culture has been changing for thousands years, whenever the environment changed, the culture will make adjustment. Today, the concept "world" to china is complete different from the one before 1910, the reform of chinese culture has been lasting for almost a century. So, any effort to use history to explain today's event in china will be a failure.
If you realy want to understand today's chinese, get rid of your chinese professor's book, go to search the chinese forms, those are written only in chinese. There, you can find your answer.
History is what allows one to understand a nation, its people and its psychology.
It changes with time, but it does not change drastically. The basic essence, ethos continues.
Let us look at the Han culture.
The Hans were basically from North of the Yellow River.
Then came the Spring and Autumn period ((春秋時代). The Hundred Schools of Thought (諸子百家/诸子百家) of Chinese philosophy blossomed (Remember Mao and his let a Hundred Flower Bloom? History repeats).
You will recall Emperor Wu (Han Wudi 漢武帝/汉武帝) consolidated and extended the Chinese empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia, wresting from them the modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. (What is happening now? Indian territory is being called 'South Tibet'. History repeats!).
Checked how the Hand culture was spread to the non Hans South of the Yellow River and the Yis (barbarians, cooked and uncooked) were made into Hans? (History repeats itself - Tibet and Xinjiang is being applied the same treatment).
Look, I could go on.
Please spare me the pious platitudes!
China is inscrutable to many. Yes, I do read books on China. It is a fascinating country and unless one reads and knows about it. Very insidious history that if not understood, will bring grief to the peaceful!
It is true I should read the Communist Chinese literature and be indoctrinated. I do read. I read Mao and his guerilla tactics. A genius!
I also read about the Cultural Revolution and how he so cleverly eliminated his opponents.