As a Chinese, I can see where you are coming from. It is true that Chinese people have this kind of "sentiments" as you described, as part of our culture. We don't go very far and establish colonies, we prefer stay close to our root.

If you read more history of China, you will also notice that the Han ethnicity prefers letting others adopt Hans customs and cultures instead of actively adopting or adapting to foreign cultures. That's another striking characteristics in my opinion.