I like this a lot. I didn't think it was patronizing or racist, and I honestly don't see anything in this to suggest that it is. I think people are assuming that you're belittling the current Chinese space adventure, but obviously you're not. Even though I didn't know the legend of Wan Hu, I picked up on the intimation that this was based on legend, from the language, the storytelling voice, the fact that you named names, etc. Easy enough to find the original story; here's one telling:
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/09/30/china.wanhu/