If the Chinese was to be so proud as to refuse to swallow their own pride in specific instances, they would have never arrived at this instance. Do we really have to go back on on how existing naval trends are helping China to establish their own carrier ops and navy culture ?
The Chinese are very practical. If you look at the Liaoning deck staff, it is very clear that the PLAN follows the USN carrier deck ope to the dot. Even the color scheme is the exact same as the USN.
They have no problem emulating other navies with much more experience in the carrier operations.
Part of being proud and being confident is to admit your weakness and to learn from the best. And the Chinese have been doing that openly for many years.
Also keep in mind that being humble does not mean that they should emulate others 100%. And the Chinese have shown that, in many cases, they make changes based on their unique needs, situations and strategic plans while they learn from others.
Therefore, when you see something different, give them some benefit of the doubt. Maybe, just maybe, they are doing it differently because they have a reason for that.
Also, they have been building warships for a long long time. And the scale of their operations is humongous. That means they are very experienced with the whole process. They must have a reason for doing something as mundane as painting the pennant number differently.
