Conspiracy Theories | China Combats Internet Pseudo-history: Aristotle Existed

Authorities in China's Zhejiang province have issued a warning about a growing trend of "pseudo-historical" theories circulating online, which claim that key achievements of Western civilization actually originated in China. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that these theories are being spread via official social media channels.

Examples of these claims include the assertion that the philosopher Aristotle never existed, and that the Industrial Revolution was essentially plagiarism of China's Ming Dynasty. Some online discussions also allege that differential and integral calculus, as well as the steam engine, were invented in China and subsequently stolen by the West. One particularly unusual claim suggests that the British people originated from Yingshan County in Hubei Province due to a phonetic similarity between the names.

Zhejiang authorities described the spread of these claims as a harmful trend fueled by ignorance and "cultural insecurity." They noted that counterarguments are often dismissed by proponents of pseudo-history, who may label evidence as forged or claim historical documents have been altered by later generations.

The use of generative artificial intelligence is identified as a factor exacerbating the problem, lowering the barrier for creating convincing fabricated content, including seemingly authentic fake documents. While the phenomenon is not entirely new, with Chinese scholars having debated pseudo-historians for years, the accessibility of AI tools has amplified its reach.

This trend is not officially supported by the Chinese state, and such claims are absent from textbooks used in the country's schools. However, the government does engage in shaping historical narratives, with President Xi Jinping frequently referencing China's continuous 5,000-year history as a source of "cultural confidence."

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Evidence before them, they claim it is forged; if documents are cited, they claim that later generations have altered them.