Xi Jinping overthrown?
Xi Jinping overthrown? Why the wildest rumours about China are so easy to spread
Western audiences are prone to believing the most outlandish things they hear about China, even with zero substantiation
RT by Timur Fomenko ~ September 28, 2022
Over the past weekend, unsubstantiated rumours have gone viral on Twitter, claiming that China’s leader Xi Jinping had been overthrown in a military coup and placed under house arrest. As evidence, a video was posted, purporting to show military vehicles in China.
To nobody’s surprise, there was no truth in the story at all. It was fake news. But this didn’t stop the story trending, going round the world and having many people believe it.
Some mainstream media outlets, and especially media in India, also reported on the story.
The rumour was sourced to several accounts linked to the Falun Gong Movement, an anti-communist, Chinese conservative religious group, which since being banned in China itself in the 1990s, has become known for its sporadic misinformation regarding the country.
This completely false story regarding a coup in China is not the first which such dedicated misinformation machines have pulled off, and it certainly won’t be the last. In fact, it is commonplace for all kinds of misconceptions and false information regarding the country to go viral. Typically, they involve video clips taken out of context.
Why so? Because Westerners will believe just about anything they are told regarding China. As a country which is perceived as an incomprehensible and feared “other”, China is a frequent subject of Western paranoia, prejudice, stereotypes and mystery.
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 