It turns out that one woman has been writing 'Fictitious Russian History' on Wikipedia for 10 years, and there are voices saying 'I should be a novelist'
Many people would say, 'When you do research, look at Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia.' However, since Wikipedia's article creation and editing is supported by volunteers, misunderstandings and hoaxes can sometimes be mixed in. In June 2022, the Chinese Wikipedia contained millions of words of 'fictitious Russian history,' and it was discovered that these articles were written by just one woman. ..
She Spent a Decade Writing Fake Russian History. Wikipedia Just Noticed.
A woman wrote fake Russian history on Chinese Wikipedia for 10 years
https://happymag.tv/wiki-fake-russian-history/
One day, Chinese fantasy writer Yifan browsed various articles on the Chinese Wikipedia to draw inspiration from historical facts. Meanwhile, Mr. Yifan came across an interesting description of a large silver mine called the 'Kashen Silver Mine' that existed in medieval Russia.
According to the article, the Kashen Silver Mine is a silver mine opened by the Principality of Tveri , which existed in the 13th to 15th centuries, and is the largest in the world at the time when about 30,000 slaves and about 10,000 liberated slaves worked. It was one of the industries of. The silver mine was an important source of revenue for the Principality of Tver, but Wikipedia stated that it was also a source of historic conflict, with the nearby Grand Duchy of Moscow waging a war against the Principality of Tver in an attempt to seize the silver mine. .. The Principality of Tver was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1485 and disappeared , but the Kashen silver mine continued to be mined and was closed due to the depletion of silver in the middle of the 18th century.
The Chinese Wikipedia description of the Kashen silver mine is very rich, with hundreds of related articles on the conflict between the Principality of Tver and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, related aristocrats and engineers, and the history surrounding the mine. .. Yifan learned a lot by reading these articles, but wanted to know more about the Kashen silver mine and turned to related Russian Wikipedia articles and footnotes.
Then, for some reason, it turned out that the Russian version of the article was shorter than the Chinese version, or that the Russian version of the article did not exist in the first place. It also revealed some contradictions, such as a footnote on medieval mining methods referring to a paper explaining 21st century automated mining techniques. As a result of further investigation, Mr. Yifan came to the conclusion that 'there was no'Kashen silver mine'in the first place.'
The series of descriptions of the Kashen silver mine was mixed with real historical matters and figures, and the wide range of descriptions such as war and economy were also very detailed. In addition, it was very difficult to tell the truth from the falsehood because it was a stylistic style that could be recorded as-is in the encyclopedia, Yifan said. For example, the Principality of Tver and the Grand Duchy of Moscow actually fought between the 14th and 15th centuries, but the person who wrote the fictional history took this historical fact into account and used the Kashen silver mine as the main motive for the war. It was positioned.
The person who created and edited the article about the Kashen silver mine reuses four accounts, one of which is called 'Zhemao' by Chinese internet users. According to a Wikipedia survey, Zhemao wrote a 'fake episode' about the real Qing politician Heshen around 2010. Eventually, he began to look at the history of Russia, and after editing the article of Emperor Alexander I of Russia in 2012, he gradually began to spread the 'fictitious history of Russia' created by imagination to the Chinese version of Wikipedia.
In the end, Zhemao created 206 Chinese Wikipedia articles and edited hundreds of related articles, with a total of millions of characters about fictitious Russian history. It has been. Some internet users have given the nickname ' Jorge Luis Borges of China' to Zhemao, who created a magnificent pseudohistory by incorporating research and fantasy based on conflicts between existing nations.
Zhemao wrote in his profile that he was 'the daughter of a diplomat stationed in Russia, had a degree in Russian history, married a Russian and acquired Russian nationality', but in an apology released, he actually said. He reveals that he is a full-time housewife who just graduated from high school.
According to the apology, Zhemao created fake statements to fill in the contradictions between the two first edited statements, and eventually began to write epic fictional Russian history. 'As the saying goes, I've decided to lie more to hide the lie. I hesitated to delete the description that wrote hundreds of thousands of characters, and as a result, I deleted the description that had millions of characters. And the academic solidarity has collapsed. The inconvenience is irreparable, and the disposition may have to be permanently banished, 'Zhemao said. He says he will work and withdraw from editing Wikipedia.
As of June 17, most of the Chinese Wikipedia items created by Zhemao have been deleted or corrected to be correct. However, it is said that some descriptions have been translated into English, Arabic, Russian, and Romanian Wikipedia, and some of them still remain.
Wikipedia editors have accused the incident of 'shaking the credibility of the Chinese version of Wikipedia as a whole,' but many Internet users have Zhemao's talent and tenacity to write a fictitious history of millions of words. There are also voices praising this and saying, 'One day, we should publish a novel.'
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in Note, Posted by log1h_ik