Sometimes people are just like this; of course, saying it was the pride of a Great Power during the Han Dynasty is perfectly reasonable. At that time, people of the Han Dynasty wouldn't consider themselves inferior to anyone.
Though this mindset didn't change much even into the Qing Dynasty, the Han Dynasty differed from the Qing Dynasty's stagnation, for they genuinely had the grounds to say such things.
Although the tone and stagnation sound similar, when the same words are spoken by different people, some are overestimating, while others are demonstrating the demeanor of a Great Power. To put it bluntly, it's either about appearance or strength.
Liu Bei felt a chill when he saw the world map; indeed, achieving "All under heaven is the land beneath the king" would be an utterly daunting mission, but that was in the absence of any external provocation.
