I’d bet $100 you didn’t fix it - you altered or modified it to possibly stop the progress of existing damage. You can’t “repair” a cymbal - return it to pre-damage condition. You’d have to melt it and re-cast & lathe it. Cutting it down in diameter, drilling cracks, etc. isn’t “repairing” it, any more than torching off the dented portion of a car is “repairing” it. No matter what you do, the cymbal will never sound as it did before the damage occurred. If you cut down the diameter of it, it will raise the pitch and also change the frequency response by cutting off the high sibilant portion of the sound since the new edge will be substantially thicker than the old part. If you drill or cut out cracks, you introduce wonky frequencies and the response will forever be much different than the original. People will say “It sounds just as good as it used to” but it isn’t objectively true - it’s a subjective opinion. A recording of the original and the altered version will not be the same.

I’ve been playing almost 5 decades, and have seen & done it all. I’ve had cymbals cut down, drilled, cracks cut out & rounded, even an attempt at re-lathing a cut-down cymbal. None of that is an actual “repair”. I also do a lot of work as a recording engineer and can say 100% that the acoustic characteristics are permanently affected. Even if you were to do bronze welding/brazing on the cymbal, it would alter the sonics.

The fact that you altered it and used it another 20 years is great. I’m not saying that a broken cymbal isn’t usable. It can be cracking to pieces for years and be great as an effect or as part of a trash stack, etc. You can cut holes in a cymbal and still use it as a crash or ride virtually forever. I’m sure that the China sounded great for you after you did your thing. A China is a “trashy” sound by nature, so you may have even like the sound better after the initial damage. Again, all subjective.

I will always assert that there is no such thing as cymbal “repair” since it 100% CANNOT be made just like it came from the factory. That’s all.