How different is modern China from the China depicted in Journey to the West?

I'm currently reading an abridged version of Journey to the West (from here on called West). When reading through it, a few points raised my eyebrow. In West, one part of the canon of Chinese folklore alongside with the Three Kingdoms, Romance of Water Dragons, and Dream of Red Mansions, China is depicted as the central power, the other nations like Indians and Tibetans live in a warlike and divided society, It is also depicted that they are spiritually inferior to China (Virtually all Buddhas live there) with weaker magic and a pagan religion.<br><br>A lot of the nations in Asia are culturally independent from China or in the case of South Korea/Japan actually on hostile terms with it, so what truth is there in the depiction of Journey to the West?