If you want to start a large and separate Foundation branch from the Parent Foundation, the best way to do it is to tell everyone that there is something that needs to be contained with the strength and resources of an entire branch, so that everyone will raise their hands in agreement. Most Foundation branches were born like this, but the Chinese branch is an exception. To be honest, there is no such thing as a giant uncontained creature buried in the ground that might turn half of China into a sea of lava sometime in the future. That was just a front to make the creation of a Chinese branch make sense.
If there is nothing to contain there, you will certainly ask, why did we set up a Chinese branch? No, I didn't say "there's nothing to contain there". There are just no "giant uncontained creatures buried in the ground that might turn half of China into a sea of lava sometime in the future".
SCP-CN-001 does exist there, but ironically, the best way to contain it is to conceal its existence from the Chinese branch. So we created a fake document for the Chinese branch, told them to instal unnecessary instruments and submit meaningless observation data to us, and even used SCP-███ and SCP-████ to maintain the illusion of the existence of a "giant uncontained creature buried in the ground that might turn half of China into a sea of lava sometime in the future". All of these efforts are just aimed to lead their attention in another direction, and keep them in the dark forever.
I guess you have another question now, right? What exactly is the true SCP-CN-001? Before I tell you the answer, I have a question for you too.
Have you ever wondered why Chinese civilisation has survived to this day? Thousands of years of history can bring great changes to mankind, but why is this civilisation the only one amongst the primitive ancient civilisations that has survived storm after storm and is still using the same language as when it was first born today?
The answer is not historical coincidence. I can tell you that SCP-CN-001 is the Chinese civilisation itself, a living civilisation, a beast that exists deep in the subconscious of all the people who belong to it. Thank God, it has been sleeping (just like the fictional beast that was created to hide the truth), but it is not harmless. Even in slumber, it can still protect itself, instinctively devouring and absorbing foreign civilisations, slowly, gently, but very thoroughly. Just look at the Manchus. That poor nation is definitely not the first victim of SCP-CN-001, and definitely not the last.
And what will happen when this beast wakes up? Our forefathers did something that now seems rather foolish in order to find out: they partially awakened it.
When you tell someone who belongs to this civilisation about the existence of SCP-CN-001, you will easily awaken that beast in their mind, making him an SCP-CN-001-1, a branch of the beast's waking consciousness. Those who initially discovered this may have been inadvertent, but you can imagine what they would do when they learnt this: experiment, experiment, and experiment more. After creating a large batch of SCP-CN-001-1 from D-Class personnel of Chinese origin, they discovered that all these individuals shared the same consciousness, whose memories were seised and replaced by SCP-CN-001.
You also know what they do with the used D-Class. When they felt that there was no longer a need for research, they decided to execute all the subjects. This enraged SCP-CN-001, which began to fight back, using the intelligence accumulated over thousands of years to control dozens of SCP-CN-001-1 to take over the entire site. Its tactics were so seamless that we eventually used suppressive gas to eke out a victory. Then we followed the normal process, executed almost all SCP-CN-001-1, and raised the Security Level on the document from Safe to Keter, thinking that the incident was over.
Well, it was not over yet. I just said "almost", right? We have no idea how the survivor escaped and drifted across the ocean, but by the time we found out, a powerful force of SCP-CN-001-1 had emerged in [DATA EXPUNGED], dominated by the same old, wise and angry consciousness, ready to launch its revenge. In view of the fact that it seems to consider almost all of Western civilisation as the Foundation's companions, in order to prevent it from committing more dangerous acts, we managed to evacuate the few ethnic Chinese who had not yet been affected by SCP-CN-001, and then instigated a big riot against SCP-CN-001-1 in the name of the local government, which finally stopped the development.
But the fault has been made. Our actions have made that beast the most dangerous enemy of all. It hates us, and because of its bigoted thoughts, it also hates the civilisation to which we belong. We cannot let the Chinese know of its existence, because once the containment breach happens, we and our civilisation will face an attack by an army of more than a billion people who will not betray themselves. But we also know that such passive containment cannot work forever. Although we have destroyed all documents and records about the truth of SCP-CN-001, administered Class A amnestics for all non-O5 personnel involved, and strictly controlled the relationships of everyone who read this document (yes, if you don't plan to voluntarily undergo Class A amnestics after reading this, I think you will probably never see a Chinese person again in your life), just in case that one day the beast fully awakens and roars at us with vengeance. It will not forget. Since it has never forgotten what happened thousands of years ago, a few decades is nothing.
So we must prepare for the world after us. After all, even if we were destroyed along with the entire Western civilisation, there would still be humans on Earth, and things we have and have not yet contained would still exist and threaten the every-day world. Someone must take over our cause and continue to contain beings that should not be exposed to the day-light after we disappear. So we must leave a seed in a safe place, and the most dangerous place can also be the safest.
That is the true reason for the establishment of the Chinese branch, which is not part of the containment procedures, but a seed we leave behind for the future. We give them our documents to translate and organise, and teach them how to contain all kinds of anomalous objects. Since SCP-CN-001 will not harm itself, the Foundation replica established within it will live with it, so that, because of the extraordinary vitality of this civilisation, theoretically as long as the human race is not completely extinct, this newborn Foundation will exist forever.
This way, even if we were eventually devoured by the beast, there would still be someone to secure, contain, and protect on our behalf.