Why do Chinese EarPods not work with German MacBook Pro?
According to this post from Apple's official Chinese-language discussion forum, the EarPods that come bundled with iPhones sold in China comply with the OMTP standard which uses black rings, which is the official standard for 3.5mm earphones in the country whereas those from other countries and the standalone EarPods sold in China use the CTIA standard, with the white rings.  

The channels used by the two standards are different: the order of the rings on the OMTP standard are :Left audio, right audio, microphone, and ground; whereas  the CTIA standard have the ground and microphone sockets switched over, so, given that information, we can safely conclude a German MacBook Pro is incompatible with the OMTP standard, however all Apple 3.5mm EarPods should be compatible with all iPhones, as indicated by the question and the linked forum thread.