Tanner Greer has written essentially the same thing about the present: modern Chinese experts on America are just repeating what the American media says about the country.
Seems like a loss to them (I don't think American self-conceptions are accurate enough to be worth studying) and to us (it would be nice to have better information out there).
On the other hand, if all it takes to be an expert on America in China is reading some American newspapers, that does say some things about general Chinese cultural insulation from America.