Actually there was a very significant amount of money ploughed into researching that exact topic in the PRC.

With significant and predictable sadness when the results didn't go their (the CCP and Chinese nationalists) way.

A google search gives a good paper on the topic:

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/28941533.pdf

TLDR: CCP, seeking to shore up ethno-nationalism (not an especially rare occurance in Chinese history) spent a LOT of time and research trying to prove that Han Chinese are in fact originally descended from Homo erectus Pekinensis rather than the African Homo Sapiens. (EDIT: Spelling)

Homo erectus pekinensis isn't 2 million years old.

Go back 2.1 million years, like these stone tools, and it's not even clear that there is a genus Homo.

what's wrong with trying to prove something? As long as it is research, I can see nothing wrong with it. Especially if they want to understand where they are from.