There was once a quite popular female talker in Germany named Vera F. Birkenbihl. She gave talks about a wide array of topics, including India and China.
One of her signature phrases was "The Chinese are the Borg." In her eyes the Chinese don't fight wars with weapons if there are other ways. And they can uphold a grudge for millenia.
Her argument to proof the Borg thesis was this: there's the region of Manchuria in PRC. Manchuria had indigenous people, who reigned China from 1644 to 1911 as the Qing dynasty. Later it was occupied by Japan. After WWII China took it back saying "of course this is Chinese territory, the people from their reigned us several millenia telling they are Chinese, how could it be otherwise?" Back then the Manchus integrated themselves quite heavily.
So after 1945 it became part of the PRC. Then the Chinese Borg treatment started by massive movement of Han chinese to the area. Nowadays the Manchu are a minor ethnicity, but its language and culture is dwindling.
The same tactic is applied to Tibet.
The biggest lever PRC however has that we became so dependent on it in manifacturing everything.
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