The French historian helping to challenge the 'myths' of Chinese history
French academic Alexis Lycas has just published a book on mediaeval China which counters the popularly-held notion of a Chinese state with a linear, unbroken and united history stretching into the distant past. The historian says that following the creation of its empire more than 2,000 years ago, China has been “divided for longer than it's been than united”. This approach is more than simply fascinating scholarly history; it also provides a valuable insight into the myth-making historical narrative of the current Chinese regime. François Bougon spoke to Alexis Lycas, who has been taking part in the 'L’histoire à venir' festival in south-west France, an event in which Mediapart is a partner.
FromFrom General Charles de Gaulle's information minister and confidant Alain Peyrefitte to President Jacques Chirac's prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a section of the French Right has long been attracted by the notion of “eternal China”. Fascinated by autocrats, they see the leaders of the Chinese Community Party as worthy inheritors of the old emperors. Whether it relates to the time of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China in 1949, or the current era of Xi Jinping, who has brought Chinese civic society to heel since coming to power in 2012, figures on the Right have an infatuation for a political regime they view as stable and able to plan for the long term. During interviews Raffarin has, for example, praised China's 5,000 years of continuous history, thus adopting the same national narrative promoted by Xi Jinping himself.
