Chinese authorities have issued a warning over the online spread of so-called pseudo-history — claims that deny the history of Western civilization or assert that major Western scientific and technological achievements actually originated in China — saying the trend could damage the country's national image and academic credibility. Generative artificial intelligence was singled out as a tool fueling the spread of such extreme historical narratives.
Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party's theoretical journal, recently criticized extreme pseudo-history claims circulating online and said the phenomenon is already hurting China's academic discourse power and its cultural image abroad, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on the 7th.
Among the claims cited by Qiushi were assertions that ancient Greek civilization itself was a fabricated history and doubts about whether the philosopher Aristotle ever existed. One claim held that Mount Emei, a famed peak in China's Sichuan province, actually refers to the Alps. Such arguments arbitrarily link place names and historical records in an attempt to overturn established historical facts.
The claim that the West's Industrial Revolution began in China was cited as another prominent example. Some pseudo-historians argue that the Yongle Encyclopedia, a vast compendium compiled during the reign of the Ming dynasty's Yongle Emperor, already contained the knowledge needed to give birth to modern Western civilization, and that the West built the achievements of the Industrial Revolution, including calculus and the steam engine, on that foundation.
In recent years, calls have grown louder in China to move away from a Western-centered view of history and to emphasize the originality and historical continuity of Chinese civilization. Chinese authorities have also stressed that Chinese civilization has continued unbroken over a long period.
Against that backdrop, some online users and pseudo-historians have begun questioning the origins of Western civilization or arguing that the West appropriated China's own historical achievements. The claims have gone beyond reexamining China's past scientific and technological development to denying the very course of Western civilization's development as recognized by mainstream historians.
The problem is that such claims are not staying inside China but spreading overseas online. Qiushi said the spread of extreme pseudo-history claims abroad could damage China's academic discourse power and its cultural image overseas.
It also warned of the potential for political fallout. Qiushi argued that some pseudo-historical narratives carry ethnic separatist elements and could be used as a theoretical basis for denying the unity of the Chinese nation.
In particular, some online historical discourse in China has evaluated dynasties based on the ethnic origins of their rulers. One prominent example is the view that defines the Qing dynasty, founded by the Manchus, as an external invading and colonial regime imposed on the Han Chinese.
Such claims can clash with the Communist Party's official view of history, under which sovereignty over Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan carried through from the Ming to the Qing dynasty, according to Qiushi.
What Chinese authorities are watching most closely is the emergence of generative AI. Because AI can repeatedly turn a particular historical claim or narrative into content in a short time, unverified information could spread far more quickly online.
Qiushi stressed that AI must not serve as a loudspeaker for such historical narratives. Its point was that the pseudo-history spreading within China should be treated not as a mere online argument about history but as an issue that can affect the country's understanding of its past and its image abroad.
