You're not imagining it. China is executing a full-on "covert" culture/soft-power war. From the Confucius Institutes in US universities to propaganda "news" papers in New Zealand. They have teams of people trying to control the narrative on the internet anywhere China is mentioned. Quora is the worst in my personal experience.
A lot of this is widely reported on by credible news sources. Many current and ex intelligence and defense officials have called out China as the biggest threat to the US over the past year. I can't believe our government is shutdown right now over a "wall" separating us from countries who, in comparison, are our BFFs.