It really depends if you look at it like they never entered the market in the first place versus just suddenly plucking out all China exchanges in a single moment while the impact of the publicity still remained.
I think China publicity helped the price increase which even if it was a bubble still attracted a lot of new entrepreneurs and general public awareness, which in turn helps the long-term and short-term growth.
I agree that it helped the price increase, but the rise/sudden fall when the bad news came out of China gave serious ammunition to people who say that it can't be currency because of the insane fluctuation.