No one in China sees the men's ice hockey team's performance at the Winter Olympics as a humiliating performance. Even the initial goal set by the national team was not to lose badly when they were eliminated, and they have achieved that. Ice hockey has been played in China in the past year, though more often in tournaments such as the national Winter Games than in leagues. Meanwhile, the women's professional league(allowing teams to sign foreign players) is underway, with playoffs scheduled for late January. There are also more and more youth leagues and tournaments.
On the other hand, hockey is not the only sport, nor is it special. So what if Chinese hockey sucks? More fans are still focused on the NHL or KHL, and the NHL's inability to compete with NBA or MLB in the Chinese market is their problem, not the problem of Chinese hockey. Chinese soccer is much worse, but that doesn't stop fans from paying to watch European leagues.