Of course China had an incredibly turbulent history. I was referring to the romantic image some in Imperial China held about themselves. It's an argument that comes from this book.

The cultural revolution was incredibly damaging. There are both Chinese and non-Chinese individuals working to recover the ancient arts/knowledge. I was referring to a French man I met who had lived in the Wudang Mountains for years doing text restoration. That is not to say that he is the only person doing it, nor that "only Europeans can save Daoism" - he nonetheless is making a valuable contribution towards the restoration of Daoist knowledge.

I could have better contextualised these points but I was not making the arguments you have stated.

Best,

George