The Pandaren culture was originally based on Japanese culture? I can see why the Chinese government said NO! Mainland China is very serious business about pandas. Personally speaking, I wouldn't mind if the Panderans were more Japanese than Chinese, but neither could I disagree with the folks who would consider such as offensive to the Chinese. Had indeed Blizzard stuck with Karate Panderans instead of Kung Fu Pandas, I would be all "Blizzard, either you're really ignorant about Sino-Japanese relations or you're just trolling."

That said, even though it's very unlikely I will reactivate my WoW account, I am RELIEVED that they didn't westernized the pandas.

As for the complaints about MoP being made to appeal to China, yes - I've come across such as well, and I had to keep myself from informing-reminding the complainers that WoW has more or as many subscribers in Asia than both in US and Europe combined. Last I read, it was 2m in US, 2m in Europe. 5m in Asia. Something like that.