Western Pseudohistory Theory
{{Short description|Chinese conspiracy theory}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
The term "Western Pseudohistory Theory" ({{zh|s=西方伪史论|t=西方偽史論|p=Xīfāng wěi shǐ lùn}}) is a catch-all term referring to a series of Russian-inspired Chinese fringe theories that question the authenticity of Western history, and which generally hold that the histories of ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and ancient Rome contain a large number of fabrications, or even that all of them are fabricated. Many elements of this theory are borrowed from Russian mathematician Anatoly Fomenko's new chronology theory, and have thus been traced back to French scholar Jean Hardouin. In 2013, after Chinese art scholar He Xin published his book Research on Pseudo-history of Greece questioning the existence of ancient Greece, this theory gradually spread on the Chinese Internet. The Chinese historiography and classics community either completely disagrees with this theory or simply does not want to spend time refuting these claims.
History
At the end of the twentieth century, Russian mathematician Anatoly Timofeyevich Fomenko put forward some fringe theories in his books that questioned world history, for example, he argued that no artifacts had been found in Russia prior to the 10th century A.D., and therefore world history could not have predated the 10th century A.D.{{cite news |last=Wu |first=Xu |title="金字塔是假的" "英语源于湖北"："历史发明家"是一门什么生意？ |trans-title="The pyramids are fake" "English originated in Hubei": what kind of business is the "Inventor of History"? |url=https://www.infzm.com/contents/244168 |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=Southern Weekly |date=23 February 2023 |language=zh-hans }} Fomenko's theory was heavily criticized by historians. An article in Xinmin Weekly,{{cite news |last1=Jiang |first1=Haofeng |last2=Yuan |first2=Yicong |title=我们知道的历史都是假的？ |trans-title=All the history we know is false? |url=https://m.xinminweekly.com.cn/content/8943.html |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=Xinmin Weekly |date=30 November 2018 |language=zh-hans }} an article in Southern Weekly, and an article by Chow Hin in Orange News, all cite Fomenko as one of the origins the theory,{{cite news |last1=Chow |first1=Hin |title=周顯專欄｜西方偽史有幾偽？ |trans-title=Chow Hin Column｜How fake is Western pseudo-history? |url=https://m.orangenews.hk/details?recommendId=1165252 |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=Orange News |date=30 November 2022 |language=zh-hant }} with the Xinmin Weekly{{'}}s article going even further back to Jean Hardouin, a French scholar.
In 2013, He Xin published Research on Pseudo-history of Greece, which claimed that there were a large number of fabrications in the history of Greece.{{cite news |last1=Peng |first1=Dannie |title=Narrative war: China's TikTok users are being told that Aristotle did not exist |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3240339/aristotle-becomes-latest-casualty-chinas-narrative-war-west-scholar-questions-philosophers-existence |access-date=6 July 2024 |work=South China Morning Post |date=4 November 2023 |language=en}} In 2015, Du Gangjian put forward the theory of Out-of-Hunan, which argued that human beings did not originate from Africa, but from Hunan.{{cite news |last1=Luo |first1=Guangyan |title=英语起源于湖南？哗众取宠的研究只能沦为笑谈 |trans-title=English originated in Hunan? It's a ridiculous piece of claptrap |url=https://shareapp.cyol.com/cmsfile/News/201909/10/share267935.html |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=China Youth Daily |language=zh-hans }} In 2018, a documentary produced by Gleb Nosovsky made Fomenko's theories spread on the Chinese Internet,{{cite news |title=网传金字塔为近代"混凝土浇筑"的 专家：毫无根据 |trans-title=The pyramids are rumored to be "poured concrete" in modern times, experts: unfounded |url=http://culture.people.com.cn/n1/2018/1221/c1013-30480458.html |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=People's Daily |publisher=Science and Technology Daily |date=21 December 2018 |language=zh-hans}} and in July 2019, the Chinese-British scholar Zhu Xuanshi said that there was no history of Europe before the 15th century, and that Western civilization had faked the three civilizations of ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome with reference to Chinese culture.{{cite news |last1=Chan |first1=D. M. |title=Is English actually Chinese? Some scholars think so |url=https://asiatimes.com/2019/09/is-english-actually-chinese-some-scholars-think-so/ |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=Asia Times |date=9 September 2019}} The same year, Xiang Qianjing, the CEO of Beijing Tairen Classic Chinese Medicine Technology Co., Ltd, interested in the theory, funded and proposed to hold a "Western History Falsification and Chinese Culture Renaissance Symposium" every two years, which led to the further dissemination of the theory in China. In 2021, Huang Heqing, a professor of art history at Zhejiang University, stated in a lecture that the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Giza were fakes.{{cite web |title=Pyramids were poured in concrete to spite China |url=https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2021/02/18/pyramids-were-poured-in-concrete-to-spite-china/ |website=MCLC Resource Center |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=7 July 2024 |date=18 February 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Ye |first1=Qi |title=浙江大學教授稱有圖有真相金字塔是現代偽造 19世紀用混凝土所建 |trans-title=Zhejiang University professor says the pyramid is a modern fake, built with concrete in the 19th century |url=https://www.hk01.com/%E5%A4%A7%E5%9C%8B%E5%B0%8F%E4%BA%8B/583655/%E6%B5%99%E6%B1%9F%E5%A4%A7%E5%AD%B8%E6%95%99%E6%8E%88%E7%A8%B1%E6%9C%89%E5%9C%96%E6%9C%89%E7%9C%9F%E7%9B%B8%E9%87%91%E5%AD%97%E5%A1%94%E6%98%AF%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E5%81%BD%E9%80%A0-19%E4%B8%96%E7%B4%80%E7%94%A8%E6%B7%B7%E5%87%9D%E5%9C%9F%E6%89%80%E5%BB%BA |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=HK01 |date=4 February 2021 |language=zh-hant }} An analysis of videos on the Chinese video site Bilibili shows that the earliest relevant videos were posted in 2019, after which the number of relevant videos rose in 2021 and became popular on the platform in 2022.{{cite journal |last1=Zhu |first1=Yi |last2=Wang |first2=Yichao |last3=Ma |first3=Siyuan |title=Videos engaging in conspiracy theories: Promoting or refuting foreign-pseudohistory on the video-sharing website (Bilibili) |journal=PLOS ONE |date=18 February 2025 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=e0318986 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0318986 |doi-access=free |pmid=39964997 |pmc=11835251 |bibcode=2025PLoSO..2018986Z |language=en |issn=1932-6203}} In June 2025, a number of personal media accounts promoting the theory were banned.{{cite news |title=宣扬“西方伪史论”自媒体账号据报集体被封 |trans-title=Personal media accounts promoting "Western Pseudohistory Theory" reportedly blocked en masse |url=https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20250622-6946612 |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=Lianhe Zaobao |date=22 June 2025 |language=zh-hans}}
Detail
= Ancient Egypt =
Fomenko asserted that the pyramids were fabricated by the Egyptian government in 1901 using concrete blocks for the development of tourism because of small holes in the construction materials. Huang Heqing said in 2021 that the pyramids were fabricated by the Egyptians using concrete in order to "belittle the Chinese civilization".
= Ancient Greece, Italy and the Renaissance =
File:Iliade Bilingue - BAV Gr1626 f1v-2r.jpg, in Greek and Latin]]
In 2013, He Xin published Research on Pseudo-history of Greece. In the book, He Xin argues that Leontius Pilatus and Giovanni Boccaccio tampered with the original text of the Iliad in the course of translating it from Greek to Latin, commissioned by Francesco Petrarch, and that this tampered Latin translation became the reference text for later translations in other languages, and He Xin claims that this series of events was manipulated by the Freemasons. In addition, the existence of Aristotle has also been questioned, as He Xin argues that Aristotle himself did not exist, based on the fact that, due to the problem of transcription, Miao Litian, the author of the Chinese edition of the Works of Aristotle, has stated that some of Aristotle's writings may have been incorrectly copied by later generations.{{cite news |title="学术义和团"的胜利 |trans-title=The Triumph of the 'Academic Boxer Rebellion' |url=http://www.qstheory.cn/wh/sxdl/201305/t20130513_230040.htm |accessdate=24 December 2023 |work=Qiushi |publisher=Oriental Morning Post |date=13 May 2013 |language=zh-hans}}{{cite book |last1=Bartsch |first1=Shadi |author-link=Shadi Bartsch |title=Plato goes to China: the Greek classics and Chinese nationalism |date=2023 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691229614 |pages=68–70 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691229591/plato-goes-to-china |access-date=6 July 2024}} In 2017, Chen Ping, a professor at Fudan University, expressed his agreement with Fomenko and He Xin, and stated that due to the high value of papyrus and parchment, it is impossible for ancient Greek documents to have survived intact into the Renaissance, and therefore "could only have been fabricated by people hired by Italian bankers during the Renaissance". In addition, documents in Arabic introduced to Europe during the Renaissance were also thought to be non-existent, and Chen Ping believed that they were fabricated by the House of Medici.{{cite web |title=陈平教授论希腊伪史 |trans-title=Prof. Chen Ping on Greek Pseudohistory |url=https://cifu.fudan.edu.cn/c2/78/c413a115320/page.htm |website=China Institute of Fudan University |accessdate=6 July 2024 |date=2 May 2017 |language=zh-hans}} In 2023, a video clip of Jin Canrong went viral on the Internet in which he claimed that ancient Greek philosophers, including Aristotle, did not exist because no relevant written records, according to him, could be found prior to the 13th century.
In 2024, in an interview with Southern Weekly, Huang Heqing argued that ancient Greek sculpture and architecture were too fine, and also argued that ancient Greece at that time could not have had iron tools, so it was impossible to sculpt; while ancient Greece's rivals in this period were fabricated to play as a rivalry to Western history, for example, the temperature of the Iranian plateau was very high in the spring so that it was not possible to give birth to such a state as the Achaemenid Empire.
= Industrialization =
According to some self-publishers, the steam engine and electricity are alleged ancient Chinese inventions, and the Industrial Revolution is allegedly stealing technology from the Yongle Dadian.{{cite news |last1=Li |first1=Yineng |title=警惕“伪史论”荼毒互联网 |trans-title=Warning against the "Pseudohistory Theory" poisoning the Internet |url=https://paper.xinmin.cn/html/xmwb/2025-06-27/5/214940.html |accessdate=3 July 2025 |work=Xinmin Evening News |date=27 June 2025 |language=zh-hans}}
Reception
Fomenko's theories have been heavily criticized in Russian historiography.
A 2013 article, "The Triumph of the 'Academic Boxer Rebellion'" by Gao Fengfeng, accused He Xin of being "unreasonable without evidence" and claimed that He Xin's theory lacked evidence and argument. In 2018, Science and Technology Daily interviewed Guo Zilin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who conducts archaeology in Egypt, who said that the small holes in the pyramid are caused by the weathering of sandstone, one of the main materials of the pyramid, making part of the sand flow out. Gao Fengfeng gave a rebuttal to Huang Heqing's claim in 2024, citing Marbleworkers in the Athenian Agora and Feeding the Democracy, through which he specifically analyzed ancient Greek sculpture and ancient Greek agricultural production.
In 2024, reporters from Southern Weekly tried to contact Chinese scholars of classical studies to ask them to talk about their views on the Western Pseudohistory Theory, but most of the scholars refused to be interviewed, and most of them said that they did not want to waste their time with these absurd remarks. One professor, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the theory did not "respect basic historical facts" and did not "reason with you";{{cite news |last1=Wang |first1=Huazhen |editor1-last=Liu |editor1-first=Youxiang |title="根本就没有古希腊古罗马古埃及"？黄河清和他眼中的"西方伪史论" |trans-title='There is no such thing as ancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt'? Huang Heqing and his 'Western Pseudohistory Theory' |url=https://www.infzm.com/contents/273315 |accessdate=29 June 2024 |work=Southern Weekly |date=13 June 2024 |language=zh-hans}} Gao Fengfeng, a professor at Peking University, was the only one willing to be interviewed under his own name, and said that the believers are committing a reverse onus clause.{{cite news |last1=Wang |first1=Huazhen |editor1-last=Liu |editor1-first=Youxiang |title="这些学者的意见，在学术上没有任何指标意义"：高峰枫谈"西方伪史论" |trans-title='The opinions of these scholars are not academically indicative of any significance': Gao Fengfeng on the 'Western Pseudohistory Theory' |url=https://www.infzm.com/contents/273317 |accessdate=29 June 2024 |work=Southern Weekly |date=14 June 2024 |language=zh-hans}} A 2024 article in the Journal of Central China Normal University argued that China's economic takeoff and national power growth, the deterioration of U.S.–China relations and even China's relations with the West, and China's anti-Western sentiments gave rise to a "strong mentality of arrogance and self-importance", which was embodied in the "Western Pseudohistory Theory".{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Lixin |last2=Yang |first2=Gongle |last3=Li |first3=Jianming |last4=An |first4=Shaoxiang |last5=Ha |first5=Quan'an |last6=Mu |first6=Tao |last7=Han |first7=Dongyu |title="世界史研究的回顾与展望"(笔谈) |trans-title=The Review and Outlook of World History Studies: A Written Conversation |journal=Journal of Central China Normal University(Humanities and Social Sciences) |date=2024 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=1–41 |url=https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?FileName=HZSD202402001&DbName=CJFDLAST2024 |accessdate=29 June 2024 |doi=10.19992/j.cnki.1000-2456.2024.02.001 |language=zh-hans}}
See also
References
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{{Falsification of history}}
{{Improve categories|date=July 2024}}
Category:Alternative chronologies