I've often had a similar thought, for me the quintessential example is the spiritual indigenous person who is naive to the modern world, when in fact the group contains individuals of varying levels of spirituality and naivety, just like every group. While it is often well meaning trying to promote a 'positive' stereotype in response to racism is not especially helpful.

That is my white, cis, male take. I'd be interested in any minority opinions.

That's exactly the question you won't see in any western media. I'm not a fan of militarism in any context but whenever these stories come up it's worth remembering that the Empire has a massive military presence surrounding China, not the other way around.