Liu Zhongjing

Early life and education

Liu was born in 1974 in Zizhong County, Sichuan.^[1] He has stated that as a youth he enjoyed reading detective fiction by Agatha Christie.^[6] In 1996, he graduated from West China University of Medical Sciences and worked as a forensic doctor for the Ürümqi Public Security Bureau for around ten years.

After 2009, he pursued an M.A. in world history at Sichuan University, focusing on British history. In 2012, he entered Wuhan University as a doctoral student in world history; in 2016, he left for the United States, after which Wuhan University dismissed him citing reasons including unauthorized departure, absence from dissertation proposal defense, and failing foreign-language exam requirements.^[2] During his time at Wuhan University, Liu completed a six-volume Chinese translation of David Hume's The History of England and later authored Records of the Republic of China (1911-1949), which received positive attention.^[6]

Rise to prominence

Liu gained an online following through his Douban account "Shujuan Canbian" (Chinese: 数卷残编; lit. 'several volumes of fragmentary records'), which was launched in 2007 and deactivated in 2014. At Douban, he referred to himself as an "aunt," earning him the nickname "Aunt Liu", and his ideology the name "Auntology" (Chinese: 阿姨学 or Chinese: 姨学).^[9][10]

In 2014, he branched out to mainstream media.^[11] On 25 March 2014, writer and host Leung Man-tao featured Liu's Records of the Republic of China (1911-1949) on Phoenix Television's program Eight Minutes Reading, calling it among the most unusual yet memorable books he had read in 2013.^[12] In 2014, Liu was interviewed by Consensus Net (Chinese: 共识网), expressing concern over China's "nationalities problem" and opposing political unification,.^[6][13] In early 2015, Liu began a column on Consensus Net commenting on modern historical figures, and in July became a lead writer for the Phoenix News app.^[14]

On one occasion, Liu was invited to speak in Beijing; due to technical issues, the planned in-person talk became an online livestream on Roman history. Among his followers, claims circulated that he read about 1.2 million characters per day and possessed exceptionally strong memory without note-taking; Liu did not directly deny these claims in interviews. His pessimistic assessments of China's prospects, and warnings about impending crises that contrasted with mainstream "prosperity" narratives, also drew criticism from online communities and some academic circles.^[10]

Liu has stated that as of 2015, his work time accounted for no more than about 10% of his total time, and that he read and wrote primarily for personal enjoyment. He later described himself as increasingly focused on "nation-invention" projects, writing mainly 諸夏纪事本末 and ethnic histories related to Zhuxia, and tending to consult primary historical materials and archaeological reports rather than media. He has said that his news information comes primarily from Twitter and WeChat Moments.^[15]

Political activity and exile

In 2016, Liu emigrated to the United States.^[9] In an interview that year discussing Germany's handling of the European migrant crisis, he said that Germany had formed a new kind of "political correctness" and that many topics had become unmentionable, citing statements by the controversial figure Thilo Sarrazin to support his argument.^[5]

Liu argues that people in Sichuan belonged to the nation of "Bashulia", an invented name, and the "Chinese invaders" brought many disasters to the Bashulia people.^[16] In November 2018, Liu issued a "Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Basuria" and styled himself as the "provisional president" of the "Republic of Basuria" (Chinese: 大蜀民國).^[17]

After the declaration, he increasingly engaged in political activities, including a video appearance at an "Anti-Communist Independence Movement Parties Conference" in September 2019, and interactions with figures described as Chinese separatists such as He Anquan, leader of the Shanghai National Party.^[18][19] On 23 July 2021, he was interviewed by Radio Free Asia about the "Zhuxia" and "Republic of Basuria" ideas.^[20]

According to a U.S. Department of Justice filing dated 16 March 2022, Liu and his family were allegedly subject to covert surveillance and harassment in the United States by agents linked to China after their emigration.^[21][22] The filing stated that two covert operatives traveled to Indiana to conduct close-range surveillance; "Dissident 2" mentioned in the document was suspected by some to refer to Liu. When contacted by a reporter, Liu did not respond.^[18]

Key concepts

Liu argues that China will experience a future collapse leading to a disorderly condition he calls the "Big Flood" (Chinese: 大洪水). In this scenario, China would undergo turmoil comparable to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia; economic crisis and financial breakdown would lead to currency collapse; after the central government fails, displaced populations would become frequent. He describes "Zhuxia" as a set of nation-states established after such a collapse. Liu uses "Big Flood" to describe a process in which dynastic collapse follows popular uprising, citing as an example the end of the Ming dynasty, and arguing that the Ming lacked sufficient capacity to rebuild institutions comparable to those of the Tang or Song.^[23] He invokes Zhang Xianzhong, a rebel leader from the late Ming dynasty who was notorious for violent campaigns that depopulated large swathes of Sichuan through mass killings and mutilation, as a symbolic figure to foretell mass violence following the anticipated collapse of Chinese Communist Party rule.^[24] He also argues that Europe did not experience a "Big Flood" because of European feudalism, in which power was dispersed among local autonomous entities, preventing total collapse of order during dynastic change.^[23]

Liu draws on the theory of New Qing History and applies the framework of colonial relations to construct a "depression and order" (Chinese: 洼地和秩序) worldview for East Asia. In this view, he portrays "China–East Asia" as a "depression" that can only receive technological inputs—unified yet relatively closed and internally divisive. Furthermore, he attributes China's historical achievements solely to the "export of order" received from Inner Asia.^[25] To articulate his political criticism, Liu has coined or drew upon many terms, such as "social condensation nucleus" (Chinese: 社会凝结核, social elites who could use their values and resources to influence society), "atomized individual" (Chinese: 原子化个体，individualization and fragmentation of society by a totalitarian government), "Fellah people" (meaning inferior Chinese nation) and Sodom (meaning evil Chinese nation).^[16] Some of his other notable concepts include Wafangdian-ized (Chinese: 瓦房店化), referring to China's "corrupt bureaucratic culture" hinders local technological development, forcing reliance on introducing foreign technology to cover up these shortcomings;^[26] and zuotijia.^[27]

Liu draws on Oswald Spengler's "civilizational cycle" framework^[28] and offers interpretations of Chinese history that diverge from mainstream historiography. He opposes the construction of the Zhonghua minzu concept^[29] and does not identify with Han nationalism.^[30] He has argued that China will eventually disintegrate and has proposed the "諸夏 (Zhuxia)" idea of establishing separate nation-states.^[17] Liu has also claimed that Marxist–Leninists dismantled the Confucian lineage-based community structure, which he sees as a fundamental cause of contemporary China's atomized society.^[31]

On Taiwan and Hong Kong, Liu has argued that the Republic of China resembles a "Southern Dynasties" regime, and that the legal and symbolic continuity it claims from "China" draws Taiwan into the "One China" framework.^[32] Historian Qin Hui has compared Liu's approach to civilizational-cycle thinkers such as Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, arguing that this framework treats civilizations as living organisms and views large political communities as a stage of civilizational old age, thereby aligning with an anti-progress stance.^[28] Liu has said that Hong Kong cannot be secure before a Guangdong independence movement succeeds; he argues Hong Kong would inevitably maintain close connections with "Zhuxia", while Taiwan should, in his view, cut connections with Zhuxia and keep distance.^[33]

Wang Zhan, an environmental scholar living in Finland and engaged in postdoctoral research, was detained by police when entering China and held at the Shenyang No. 1 Detention Center, reportedly on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power". He was reported to have been influenced by Liu's ideas, calling himself a "Manchurian patriot" and advocating "Manchurian independence".^[34]

On intellectuals

Liu has argued that "the left" can be defined as those who act according to abstract theory rather than concrete experience. He claims that education sectors in Europe and North America are filled with people who rely on abstract ideals instead of practical experience due to the way intellectuals are trained. In his account, intellectuals often lack practical capacity while possessing large amounts of theoretical knowledge that may not be useful. He argues that this produces a tendency among "white left" to trust abstract ideals over lived experience, which in turn reduces their ability to solve practical problems.^[35]

Academic rigor

Mei Zurong of Henan University argued that Liu's Chinese translation of A History of England contains multiple omissions, stating that the translation retains only the event ordering under headings while removing time-and-event prompts printed in the margins of the original. Mei also identified at least 20 omissions within a single chapter along with other mistranslations, and criticized Liu's choice to render the translation in a classical Chinese style as "deliberate showiness".^[44]

Lecturer Tian Fangmeng of Beijing Normal University argued that Liu's biography of Ayn Rand involved extensive plagiarism, alleging that sources relating to Rand's life were not cited in the text and that only a list of dozens of English materials was provided, including Anne Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made. Tian also argued that the "Big Flood" prophecy—under which China's political unification ends and regions break into different "Zhuxia" nations—suggests that Liu is not a conservative but rather a radical restorationist or apocalyptic thinker.^[9][45]

Sociologist Yan Kewen (Zhejiang University, adjunct) criticized Liu's translation of Hume's History of England as "basically nonsense" and suggested it should be credited as co-authored by Hume and Liu. Yan also alleged that Liu, accompanied by others, visited and warned the publisher Jilin Publishing Group that not a single character in the translation could be altered.^[46]

Original works

• Records of the Republic of China (1911-1949) (Guangxi Normal University Press, 2013; unabridged edition by Bachi Culture, 2021)
• From Huaxia to China (Guangxi Normal University Press, 2014)
• Biography of Ayn Rand: Life and Thought (The Commercial Press, 2015)
• Classics and History: The Historical Construction of the Huaxia World (Guangxi Normal University Press, 2015; Bachi Culture, 2018)
• Guarding the Past, Awaiting the Future: Thought, Structure, and Tradition (Guangxi Normal University Press, 2015)
• The Fall of Modern History: Late Qing and Beiyang Volume—Liu Zhongjing Comments on Modern Figures (Bachi Culture, 2016)
• The Fall of Modern History: KMT–CCP Volume—Liu Zhongjing Comments on Modern Figures (Bachi Culture, 2016)
• Clues from the Far East: The Import of Western Order and China's Transformation (Bachi Culture, 2017)
• China as a Lowland: A Brief History of Inner Asia Leading East Asia (Bachi Culture, 2017)
• The Fall of Modern History: Republican Literati Volume—Liu Zhongjing Comments on Modern Figures (Bachi Culture, 2018)
• Manchukuo: From Goguryeo, Liao–Jin, the Qing Empire to the 20th Century—A History and a Nation-Invention (Bachi Culture, 2019)
• The Source Code of Civilizational Succession (Bachi Culture, 2020)
• The Rebellious Balkans: From the Dissolution of Hellenism to the Collapse of Slavism (Bachi Culture, 2020) (Nation-Invention Studies Lecture 01)
• Europe's Sensory Frontier: How German Linguistic Nationalism Resisted French Rationalism (Bachi Culture, 2020) (Nation-Invention Studies Lecture 02)
• Cracks in the Middle East: The Failure of Pan-Arabism and the Legacy of the British Empire (Bachi Culture, 2020) (Nation-Invention Studies Lecture 03)
• Additional "nation-invention" lecture manuscripts^[47]
• Reversed East Asian History (1): Southeast from a Non-China Perspective (Wu–Yue and Jianghuai) (Bachi Culture, 2021)
• Reversed East Asian History (2): Southwest from a Non-China Perspective (Bashu, Dian, and Yelang) (Bachi Culture, 2021)
• Reversed East Asian History (3): North China from a Non-China Perspective (Jin, Yan, and Qi) (Bachi Culture, 2021)
• Reversed East Asian History (4): Shanghai from a Non-China Perspective (Shanghai Free City) (Bachi Culture, 2021)
• Reversed East Asian History (5): Northeast from a Non-China Perspective (Manchukuo) (Bachi Culture, 2021)
• Reversed Civilizational History: Mesopotamia—How the Dawn of Ancient Civilization Went Out and Fell into Today's Iraqi Lowland (Bachi Culture, 2022)
• Ayi, I Don't Want to Struggle!? The Life Truths Motivational Books Won't Tell You (Bachi Culture, 2022)
• Reversed Civilizational History: Rus' Lands—Russia's Evolution, Unable to Become Europe and Unable to Escape Asia (Bachi Culture, 2022)
• Lowland and Chives: Ayi on the Psychology, Reality, and Endgame of China (and the Chinese) (Bachi Culture, 2022)
• The Flow of Civilization: Big Questions Rural Readers Are Most Curious About—Ayi Explains It All (Yijuan Culture, 2024)
• The Invention of Nations: Big Questions Rural Readers Are Most Curious About—Ayi Explains It All (Yijuan Culture, 2025)

Translations

• Flying Serpent and Dragon (R. A. Bailey), Guangming Daily Press, 2010
• The Chemistry of Death (Simon Beckett), Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 2011
• The Mystery of the Star Child Skull (Lloyd Pye), Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 2012
• A History of England vols. 1–6 (David Hume), Jilin Publishing Group, 2012
• Swallows and Amazons 9 The Six Detectives (Arthur Ransome), Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2013
• Swallows and Amazons 12 Coot Club (Arthur Ransome), Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2013
• The History of England from the Accession of James the Second vols. 1–3 (Thomas Babington Macaulay), Jilin Publishing Group, 2014
• A Comparison of the American and French Revolutions (Friedrich von Gentz), Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2014
• The Big World, Little People (co-translation), Guangxi Normal University Press, 2014
• The Healing Power of Sunshine (Richard Hardy), Hainan Publishing House, 2014
• Puck of Pook's Hill (Rudyard Kipling), Guangxi Normal University Press, 2015
• Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling), Guangxi Normal University Press, 2015
• The Book of Tea: Especially Concerning Japanese Art (Okakura Kakuzō), Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2017