Western Pseudohistory Theory

The term "Western Pseudohistory Theory" (simplified Chinese: 西方伪史论; traditional Chinese: 西方偽史論; pinyin: 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 Greek Pseudohistory Examination 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.

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.^[1] Fomenko's theory was heavily criticized by historians. An article in Xinmin Weekly,^[2] an article in Southern Weekly,^[1] and an article by Chow Hin in Orange News all cite Fomenko as one of the origins the theory,^[3] with the Xinmin Weekly's article going even further back to Jean Hardouin, a French scholar.

In 2013, He Xin published Greek Pseudohistory Examination, which claimed that there were a large number of fabrications in the history of Greece.^[4] 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.^[5] In 2018, a documentary produced by Gleb Nosovsky made Fomenko's theories spread on the Chinese Internet,^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9][10]

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.^[1][6] Huang Heqing said in 2021 that the pyramids were fabricated by the Egyptians using concrete in order to "belittle the Chinese civilization".^[10]

In 2013, He Xin published Greek Pseudohistory Examination. 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.^[11][12] 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.^[13]

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.^[8]

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 the He Xin's theory lacked evidence and argument.^[4][11] 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.^[6] 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.^[14]

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";^[8] 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.^[14] 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".^[15]

• Doubting Antiquity School
• Phantom time conspiracy theory
• Robert Baldauf
• Sino-Babylonianism
• Sun Language Theory

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