While it is humorous to us, it is the absolute gospel truth to the people in China who read the newspaper. In a closed society, the truth appears to be what ever the propaganda specialists say it is.
A friend of mine grew up in Communist East Germany and attended the University of Karl Marx. She believed the government propaganda that her country was a world power. Her greatest hardship in the wall coming down was the ego injury of finding out that they were lied to and they were not the country (ego identity) that they had believed.
Have you talked to a Democrat who reads the NYT and watches network news? The same applies to this country as to China.