A scholarly “incident” involving the persecution and defense of “postmodern” historical methods once occurred in American academia focused on Chinese studies. The central figure of this “incident” was the American scholar James Hevia and his award-winning book in Sinology Cherishing Men from Afar. As usual, for mainstream Chinese academia, such fashionable narratives emerging from postmodern contexts were too abstract and difficult to comprehend, and were thus quietly marginalized. However, after a brief period of silence, Chinese scholars finally spoke out. Their response was akin to delivering a death sentence on the postmodern myths fabricated in the book. The reason was simple: Hevia was fundamentally “illiterate” because he interpreted “cherishing men from afar” as treating guests from distant lands as equals, while in reality, the essence of China’s tribute system was precisely a hierarchical and unequal structural relationship. Carrying this logic further, the postmodern construction of cultural polycentricism was, in the end, nothing more than a historical illusion.