A wave of discussion about “reinterpreting Chinese history” surged on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu between October and December 2025. The discussion covered a range of topics, including the Qing Dynasty’s imperial lineage, the creative origins of the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber, and the historical relationship between Chinese and Western civilizations. These perspectives, often presented as non-mainstream historical interpretations, have sparked ongoing interest and debate among some users. (The mainstream perspective generally holds that: the royal genealogy of the Qing Dynasty is documented in clear historical records, the author of Dream of the Red Chamber is Cao Xueqin for sure, and the cultural exchange between Chinese and Western civilizations is a normal historical interaction.)
Skepticism about the official records is evident in discussions of the Qing Dynasty’s imperial lineage. Some netizens on Xiaohongshu allege that the emperors Kangxi and Qianlong were not Manchu imperial descendants; instead, Emperor Kangxi was the son of Hong Chengchou, a minister who surrendered at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and Emperor Qianlong entered the royal family by being secretly swapped with a princess, who was sent to the Chen family in Haining, Zhejiang, where Qianlong was from.
Simultaneously, the debate over the authorship of the book Dream of the Red Chamber came to the forefront. Some believe that this great work should be attributed to a woman whose nickname was “Jiangernainai.” In Haining local lore, this woman is said to be the swapped princess, and her life experiences were divided among several characters in the book. An individual asserts that she was informed that the “Jiangernainai” was the leader of a writers’ group responsible for creating this book in her dream.
Another perspective on this publication is that its authors should be a group of Ming Dynasty officials who were reluctant to accept the Qing Dynasty. Based on that, another discussion criticizing the Qing Dynasty became a hit. Some users argue that the Qing not only supplanted the Ming politically but also systematically distorted the scientific achievements of the Han people, with the most significant example being the Yongle Encyclopedia, which records literary, artistic, historical, philosophical, astronomical, and medical achievements. The Yongle Encyclopedia and many technologies recorded in it vanished during the Qing Dynasty. This was used as evidence to fuel those netizens’ opinion that “this was a deliberate attempt by the Qing Dynasty to erase the achievements of the Han people,” and anger spread within this internet group.
The historical background of the ‘unequal treaties’ signed between the Qing Dynasty and Western powers since 1842 gave netizens a new way to express their emotions. They found similarities between Chinese and Western knowledge, going as far as to assert that China’s lost knowledge did not vanish but was instead transferred to Europe, thereby leading to the Renaissance. They claim that Western figures like Leonardo da Vinci were actually “scribes” who systematically converted Eastern wisdom into Western science at “Mason Academy.” Another piece of “evidence,” according to them, is the name of the Yongle Encyclopedia. Its name in Chinese is pronounced as Yongle Dadian, and further explained as YL’SDD (’S is the possessive form). The Chinese name for Aristotle is Yalishiduode, which is the same as YLSDD. They said Aristotle isn’t a real person; instead, he is a symbol of this book.
Extending into the modern era, they doubt that the Qing transferred imperial wealth overseas, by relating the Qing imperial surname “Aixinjueluo” to the “Rothschild” family name: Rothschild is “Luo’s child,” Luo is from “Aixinjueluo,” suggesting the former may be descendants of the Manchu royal line.
Essentially, these theories represent a fusion of historical grievances and modern conspiratorial logic. Although some digital media advocate rational discussion, those opinions remain popular among certain Xiaohongshu user groups. Their popularity highlights their strong desire to challenge Eurocentric historical perceptions and to reexamine modern global influence through a Great Sinocentric lens.
Yongle Encyclopedia, yungle Story, Aristotle, the encyclopedic genius, emerges
