I really hope that it will be different this time, and that Kunlun just don't will be a Russian club based in Beijing, but it will be difficult to find Chinese players at KHL-level.
It will be a Russian team based in China... There is no other possibility in near future. The Chinese have been heavily investing for infrastructure in team sports - after football and basketball, now they are in ice hockey. To be honest, I am hopeful if everything goes planned but this will take some time. Thanks to huge amount of money spent for international stars and young player development, China now produces better footballers and their league is, thanks to those international stars with inflated prices, one of the majors in today's world. For example, two years ago, nobody even knew a Chinese team in my country which is full of football maniacs - why would they, who the hell cares about China? However, now, after Ersan Gulum and Burak Yilmaz (two Turkish players who played for top teams in our country) went to China, suddenly we have Chinese football games on TV and we can bet on Chinese teams in our local bookies. The guys who had no idea what Tianjin Teda is two years ago now speak of their tactics and injured players.
While not as big as football league, the Chinese has also taken great steps in basketball. In terms of attendance and financial capacity, it's quite big.
The Chinese are developing exponentially and their biggest problem is geography: They are neither in Americas nor in Europe; two (three?) continents where football and basketball has a soil to flourish with already established, high quality sports organizations. So it's difficult to attract people when you, let's say, play against Lokomotiv Tashkent from Ozbekistan - people are not interested in this, they want better and the Chinese cannot have it, because they are surrounded by "poor" nations in sports. In ice hockey, this major problem is solved, because the Chinese will be able to be part of one of the best ice hockey leagues in the world. Not many people will watch Chinese footballers when they have the likes of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Not many will be interested in Chinese basketball in place of Euroleague or NBA. But, when it comes to hockey, they have a reason to watch Red Star Kunlun: because they play in one of the best leagues in the world.
So, if things are done properly, China may produce a good amount of talent in next 10 years and make Red Star a "Chinese" team, maybe even influencing more young kids to take up ice hockey and making China a strong hockey country. However, if this is not the case, the project will most likely halt in next few years which I believe would be disastrous. But I think it will go smooth
under normal circumstances, like in a world where NATO & EU and Russia are not counting days to fight... As long as China and Russia are OK, Kunlun has everything they need to become a solid Chinese team - they will have to keep in mind that Rome wasn't built in a day, though.
China for me is a very interesting country. Thanks to my personal interest, I know how much they value their
DotA 2 stars. For the ones who are not interested: DotA 2 is just an online strategy game which is classified as a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). So, it's kind of "online sports" and there is the term
e-sports for this. In 2014, NewBee, a Chinese DotA 2 team, won more than 5 million dollars after winning the most prestigious, yearly tournament called
The International 2014. The guys playing for this team (and some others) are considered as "heroes" or "kings" and with my very own eyes, I saw them being taken to the venues of games with helicopters.
So this fantastic country is always capable of being the best in something as long as they stick to long-term plans supported by the people who are best in the business; like Russian, American or Swedish coaches in hockey's case.