It's not shallow, it's well documented across the internet and in their behavior with everything they do.

China is the land of shortcuts and facades. It's part of their culture. See: gutter oil, washing veggies in the toilet, concrete infrastructure with no reinforcement, etc. Even when they respond to natural disasters: it's not to help citizens but pose for pictures to show them helping then bouncing.

Chinese people don't even trust other Chinese to sell them things: so companies often bring in foreigners to sell Chinese products to china.

China is VERY CLEAR in who they are, and they show no attempts to be otherwise.