Western origin of the early Chinese civilisation?!

From the mid-nineteenth century, during the heyday of British imperialism, a group of orientalists argued the alleged western origin of the early Chinese civilisation, such as Babylon and Assyria. Among them, Terrien de Lacouperie (1845-1894), Professor of Indo-Chinese Philology at University College, London, was a prominent and prolific figure who spent more than a decade of hard work in developing this notorious claim. Below is quoted from his Early History of the Chinese Civilisation (1880)

"The discovery of a foreign origin in the rudiments of their civilisation, oddly enough, confirms the opinion asserted so many times that want of originality and of imagination is one of the characteristics of the Yellow race. We mean in no way to reproach them with their want of imagination. This, in our own opinion, contributes but little towards real happiness. By their conservative spirit, their respect for old customs, their parental love, their life cast in that of their forefathers, the Chinese have resolved the long-sought-for problem of a life without cares, without want of comfort, which would be relative happiness to the majoiity of the human race. But the best of things have an end, and, even in China, a change must come." (p. 34)