[1] In a January 2013 speech, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping described "hostile forces" as using historical nihilism to weaken the party's rule by smearing its history.
[3][4][5]: 89 In early 2021, Xi increased efforts to promote a "correct outlook on history" ahead of the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, including opening a telephone hotline and website for citizens to report people who engage in acts of historical nihilism.
[9][10] Although 'incorrect' interpretations of history would have been censored and punished during the period of Mao Zedong (1949–1976) and Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989), neither leader made a clear attempt to engage against 'historical nihilism' as it is specifically understood today.
According to Chinese historian Zhang Lifan, the main push to fight against 'historical nihilism', according to its specific modern meaning, undertaken by the CCP has its origin following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and coinciding events within the Eastern Bloc.
[17] Chinese students in public schools, for example, may be taught that the Great Famine was caused by bad weather conditions without mention of human factors related to contemporary government policy at the time.
This is in contrast to interpretations in the period prior to Xi Jinping whereby some of Mao's policies could receive heavy criticism and the official stance of the party was a rejection of the Cultural Revolution, which had been referred to as the 'Ten Year Calamity' (十年浩劫).
"[21]: 24 Academics Jian Xu, Qian Gong, and Wen Yin write that the CCP's attention to historical nihilism "has gained momentum in the 21st century due to the rise of market-oriented cultural production in post-socialist China as well as the development of new media technologies.
"[24] They cite the TV drama adaptation of "Red Classics" as "a pertinent example of historical nihilism caused by market orientation in cultural production," explaining:[24] To produce 'selling points' and increase audience ratings, some of the original works have been greatly revised for more dramatic tension, especially the stories and images of some high-profile revolutionary heroes and CCP leaders.
To curb the trend, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARAFT) issued a notice in 2004, stipulating that all Red Classics TV dramas had to be submitted to the Censorship Committee of SARAFT for final approval after passing the initial censorship at the provincial level.According to Suisheng Zhao, some mainland Chinese scholars contend that Western scholars who describe the Qing dynasty as expansionist of engaging in historical nihilism.