I also thinks it’s because being Chinese isn’t portrayed as being cool and popular in media. Strangely enough a lot of Taiwanese and HK are proud of their Chinese heritage to almost having a utopian idea of the past but believe in the propaganda that it is only the CPC is holding back the people’s greatness sort of like Taiwanese pirates fighting the Qing Empire to reclaim Han greatness. They believe that China could be even greater without Commies like HK was in the 1980s or how Japan and South Korea is today being cool or well liked.
However, that’s a very superficial view and often piggybacked by US NGOs and governments organizations for division and subversion.
My belief is because most laypeople in Asia don’t follow Geopolitics and it is doesn’t help that Chinese politics is very opaque and its public relations is horrible. Which is especially worse if you grow up in the West or West-adjacent society.
Young people tend to follow trends and content that their social networks like and often China’s strengths are not as noticeable at first glance especially when compared to popularity its Asian neighbors of S. Korea and Japan.
That said, a lot of where China is today is the fault of its own success which seems contradictory but it is what happens when its elements are widely adopted by the Asian community as a whole.
Being Chinese among Asians is like being White in America. It’s the median average for the representative population meaning its identity and attributes are seen as more normative therefore viewed as plain and boring. While other Asian groups are minorities in comparison, that they are able to be seen as more unique appeal to being more ethnic, exotic and often “cool.” However, ask yourselves which brand is more important Toyota or Lexus or VW or Porsche, McDonald’s vs Gordon Ramsey? It’s often the ordinary that stands above the rest because its success is the standard to which all others are measured to.
