Just as there are Americans who take pride in their carriers, the Chinese want the same thing as well.
And while many on the FR post China's military build up to Imperial Japan in pre-WWII, the Chinese citizens just don't see it that way, especially when given China's growing economy, resources, etc. to building just one or even 6 aircraft carriers.
So, really, it isn't so unrealistic for China to build a half dozen or so, given that China is 7 times larger than Brazil. And Brazil, as I mentioned earlier, has a carrier. With only one carrier for a nation of 200 million (Brazil), we don't say that Brazil is preparing for war.
China building one or two carriers wouldn't worry me, we could handle that level of force fairly easily. China building a half dozen carriers and their escorts would worry me quite a bit. It would require us to rebuild our navy back up to something resembling what it looked like at the height of Reagan's 600 ship Navy idea. Not that this would be a bad thing, as I'd love to see us build up our Navy and Marines back to where they should have been all along, but I don't see us being able to afford something like that until we get our budget back under control.