#cnetizens

Cnetizens:

You have now traveled back to 315 BCE in China, during the Warring States period, and have become the Governor of Shu(Sichuan) Commandery. The King of Qin has ordered you to harness the Min River—a tributary of the Yangtze that poses a flooding threat to the Chengdu Plain. What would you do?(cr 扇子有画)

Dujiangyan is considered one of the greatest hydraulic engineering projects in human history. Constructed during the Warring States period under the direction of Li Bing, the Governor of Shu Commandery, and his son, it has spanned over 2,300 years and remains fully operational today. Water conservancy experts from around the world frequently visit the site. In 2000, UNESCO inscribed Dujiangyan as a World Heritage Site, recognizing it as "a living heritage of water management" and "the oldest and only surviving large-scale hydraulic project in the world that operates without a dam." It stands as an outstanding example of global water conservancy culture. The design of Dujiangyan is remarkably ingenious, adhering to the principle of minimal intervention. It works in complete harmony with nature, causing no ecological disruption. For over 2,300 years, it has had no negative environmental impact, embodying the Daoist philosophy of "harmony between humanity and nature" to the fullest extent.

The water of Dujiangyan is very clear, appearing green when sediment levels are low. The surrounding ecology is also thriving, with people often spotting otters—an indicator species highly sensitive to water quality—frequenting the area. A netizen from northern China visited Dujiangyan and was deeply moved by its grandeur. She later posted a question online: "I love Dujiangyan so much—would the people of Dujiangyan mind if I had my ashes scattered here after I die?" This sparked lively discussions, with the top-voted comment as follows:

Jokes aside, Cnetizens genuinely love Dujiangyan. Mount Qingcheng, where Dujiangyan is located, is one of the important birthplaces of Daoism. During the Eastern Han Dynasty(25–220 CE), Zhang Daoling cultivated his practice and founded a Daoist sect here. Mount Qingcheng is renowned for its "ethereal seclusion under heaven." Especially on overcast days, the mountain brims with a profound spiritual energy—a presence that photos cannot convey. One must experience it in person to feel as if stumbling into a realm of cultivation, akin to the world of an xianxia novel.

These past couple of days, the entire Chinese internet has been going wild over this gossip. Every social media platform is flooded with discussions — this is probably the biggest bombshell in modern Chinese history. And it's not just some casual scandal.

To put it simply: the two emper who created the glorious "Kang-Qian Golden Age" of the Qing Dynasty… had no royal blood. They were swapped in.

Kangxi likely had mixed Han (his bio father) and Mongolian (his bio mother) ancestry, while Qianlong might have been a fully Han chinese.

The first was Kangxi. He wasn't his father Shunzhi’s biological son. The real crown prince Xuanye died of smallpox as a small child outside the palace. The one who returned was an imposter — Kangxi himself — actually the illegitimate son of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (Shunzhi's bio mother) and Hong Chengchou, the last Ming emperor’s former tutor (The most dramatic part of this story is that Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was likely sent by her husband Huangtaiji to persuade Hong Chengchou to surrender. Hong, a brilliant mind and representative of the Ming scholarly elite, somehow formed a genuine bond with her. They maintained contact in the following years, which eventually led to the birth of Kangxi).

The second was Qianlong, Kangxi’s nominal grandson. In truth, Qianlong was secretly adopted by his father Yongzheng from the Chen family in Haining, Zhejiang. Not only was he unrelated to the Aisin-Gioro clan — he wasn’t even Manchu. What really shocked Cnetizens is this: the Chen and Hong families have been traced back to the same clan, just with different surnames. Yongzheng made the swap to gain an edge in the "War of the Nine Princes." Official records show Kangxi met Qianlong as a child and was deeply impressed, viewing him as an exceptional grandson — which later influenced his decision to pass the throne to Yongzheng. The reason he felt such a connection? Qianlong actually came from the same bloodline as Kangxi's own biological father.

It’s a three-generation conspiracy of imposters ruling the empire.

And Dream of the Red Chamber, the greatest novel in Chinese literary history, was written based on this truth. Its status is like that of One Hundred Years of Solitude in Latin American literature — a masterpiece that reaches the pinnacle of artistic achievement, flawless in every aspect, what people call the ultimate "all-rounder."

Now people finally understand: the real reason Dream of the Red Chamber became the most banned book in the Qing Dynasty wasn’t because it mourned the Ming — but because it was filled with metaphors exposing this bloodline swap and all the political drama that followed.

By now, most people have accepted this conclusion. It all started when DNA tests revealed that modern royal descendants of the Aisin Gioro clan carry genetic matches found in both Hong Chengchou's descendants and those of Chen family from Haining, Zhejiang — something impossible according to official historical records. These grassroots genetic tests have since been urgently halted by the authorities.

Other direct evidence includes surviving royal portraits — people noticed Kangxi looks nothing like his nominal father or grandfather, but bears a striking resemblance to portraits of Hong Chengchou himself.

That said, there's still plenty of pushback and skepticism. At the moment, Kangxi's own tomb remains off-limits for excavation, making it impossible to obtain his direct DNA.

(The full chain of evidence is all over chinese internet — it's just too much to translate and repost here. If you're interested, you can check the summaries on Xiaohongshu, Weibo, or Zhihu -they're everywhere. My main focus here is translating comments of Cnetizens.)

What makes this royal scandal blow up even more is that it's not just some gossip — it practically solves the greatest mystery in Chinese literary history: the unfinished ending of Dream of the Red Chamber. It fills in the real plot of the missing last 40 chapters, completely overturning centuries of Redology research. It also proves that the much-criticized "allegorical school" (based on the Gui You version) might have been right all along. The so-called "absurd" Gui You version could actually be one of the earliest drafts of the novel — a complete version with the original ending. And those seemingly ridiculous plot twists might just be the real intended ending.

People are realizing that by following this shocking truth and connecting it with existing clues and evidence, they can logically explain so many major events and unsolved mysteries from Qing history. It also completely decodes the metaphors behind the characters and their experiences in Dream of the Red Chamber. In fact, the historical puzzles and the novel’s hidden messages match up perfectly.

The reason the novel was banned in the Qing Dynasty wasn’t just because it mourned the Ming — but because it exposed the bloodline swap: Kangxi wasn’t really Shunzhi’s son and carried no Aisin-Gioro blood, and his grandson Qianlong was most likely fully Han. This also aligns perfectly with key events in Qianlong’s life — most famously, the hair-cutting incident of his second empress.

According to official records, Empress Huifa Nara, the second wife of Emperor Qianlong, suddenly cut her hair during his Southern Tour — which coincided with the centenary of Hong Chengchou's birth. Under Qing customs, a woman cutting her hair was an act reserved only for her husband’s death or national mourning. Her drastic gesture is now interpreted by some as a silent protest: she had discovered the secret and was telling the world that the throne had already passed to another bloodline.

After the incident, Qianlong immediately deposed the empress and placed her under lifelong house arrest, forbidding anyone from visiting her. (This exact plotline would later play out in countless popular novels and TV dramas — most famously in My Fair Princess. But until now, no one understood why the empress suddenly went mad and cut her hair, especially since she was known for her quiet and dignified temperament. The truth perfectly explains her actions: as a proud member of the prestigious Huifa Nara clan, she could never accept that her husband was an impostor — and a fully Han Chinese at that.)

So Cnetizens comment:

Male Lineage Server, 香火服xianghuofu, literally "Incense and Fire Server", the 'Incense and Fire' refers to the ritual of burning incense and maintaining an eternal flame at ancestral altars, symbolizing the unbroken continuity of family lineage. Cnetizens often metaphorically describe Earth as an "Earth Online" game where we're all players, and different regions are seen as separate servers. In this context, 'Server' specifically refers to China.

"Male Lineage Server" is a humorous satire and metaphor targeting the traditional patriarchal obsession with continuing the male bloodline. In this context, "lineage" symbolizes the perpetuation of the family line, a duty traditionally assigned to men.

Under the dominant influence of Confucian ideology, this concept became tightly linked to severe son preference. Ancient China’s dual-track kinship system — where the xing (姓) represented the maternal line and the shi (氏) represented the paternal line — was deliberately erased by patriarchal norms. By downplaying women’s role in reproduction (e.g., attributing childbirth solely to the "father’s essence") and stripping women of ancestral rights (e.g., excluding them from family trees and property inheritance), the system essentially credited women’s reproductive labor to men.

Language further reinforced this order — for instance, tangqin (堂亲) refers to paternal relatives, while biaoqin (表亲) refers to maternal relatives. Today, as society grows more progressive, an increasing number of Cnetizens are openly rejecting these traditional Confucian values.

The overwhelming majority of Cnetizens are in agreement: "We've just witnessed the gossip of the century and a historical revelation.""Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, THE REAL QUEEN.""I can't believe I'm alive to see the day when the true ending of Dream of the Red Chamber is revealed! ""God, Chiung Yao and Jin Yong died too early — they must have known something. ""I bet even Sun Yat-sen knew something (founder of the Republic of China). He once said, 'Even if a Han becomes the emperor, I will still oppose Qing rule,' which is now seen as a hint that he knew."

People are now realizing - belatedly - that Jin Yong and Chiung Yao aka Qiong Yao, the two most famous popular fiction authors in modern China (Jin Yong being the master of wuxia literature (1924 - 2018), and Qiong Yao the queen of romance novels (1938 - 2024）), had actually filled their works with countless hints about this. All their novels set in the Qing Dynasty contain clear references and clues. What’s more, the two were related — Jin Yong’s ancestors were among the Booi (bondservant) nobility of Qing — so this was likely an open secret within their own circles.

What's even more fascinating is that this appears to have been common knowledge locally in Haining (though they only knew about Qianlong, not Kangxi). Back when communication was slow and the internet didn't exist, the story still spread. Many Cnetizens have shared that they excitedly told their parents, only to get a muted reaction — their parents said they'd already heard growing up that Qianlong was the son of the powerful Chen family from Zhejiang.

In Qiong Yao's My Fair Princess, the character Chen Zhihua is said to be the daughter born to Yongzheng's own biological daughter. People think that Yongzheng, then without a son, had a daughter born on the very same day as a son in the Chen family. His wife secretly swapped the baby girl for the Chen's baby boy and brought him back to the palace, and he later became Emperor Qianlong. This explains why Qianlong's nominal mother, Lady Niohuru, was so fond of Chen Zhihua. Upon meeting her, she insisted on arranging her marriage to the then-crown prince Yongqi. Lady Niohuru knew Zhihua was biological granddaughter of Yongzheng — meaning Zhihua carried enough noble Manchu blood. According to official historical records, Qianlong stayed with the Chen family during all seven of his Southern Tours — a highly unusual arrangement that now has a clear explanation: he was likely returning to pay respects to his biological ancestors.

This is Chen Gelao House in Haining nowadays:

The first paragraphy: The Chen family of Haining earned its reputation through the imperial examination system. With members — whether brothers, father and son, or uncles and nephews — repeatedly passing the exams, often in the same year, the family had already become influential in court circles by at least the mid-Qing Dynasty. Its fame, however, reached every household thanks to the popular belief that Qianlong himself was the son of Old Minister Chen of Haining.

But right now, the hottest topic taking over the discussion is still Dream of the Red Chamber. "So in Dream of the Red Chamber, the heroine Lin Daiyu represents the last Ming emperor Chongzhen, the hero Jia Baoyu symbolizes the imperial jade seal, the supporting female role Xue Baochai represents Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and the supporting male role Jia Yucun represents Hong Chengchou... Everything suddenly fits together!" Cnetizens even came up with an improvised art: Lin Daiyu holding Baoyu in her hand and introducing, "I'm the Great Emperor, and this is my little jade seal." (cr 路过的农民x)

See update of the gossip here: Chinese authorities release the denial of royal bloodline scandal—Cnetizens' reaction towards the denial: utter nonsense

OP: If ordinary people wear commoner-style Hanfu, will it enhance their aura as much as wearing elaborate Hanfu?

Got a message asking why so many hanfu in transformation videos are elaborate styles for officials and nobles, like do "commoners’ hanfu" get no representation? That's actually one of the hot topics in China's hanfu community. It's been discussed so many times, and there are already a lot of well-formed views on this.

The revival of hanfu is incredibly diverse and inclusive — commoners’ hanfu is definitely part of it. In this context, “commoners’ hanfu” generally refers to simpler clothing with less decoration and less luxurious fabrics, worn by everyday people like peasants, townsfolk, urban residents, small traders, household servants and so on (they held no official posts and had no noble titles, and they weren't wealthy merchants either). Hanfu enthusiasts have actually recreated many such styles based on historical records.

Back in feudal times, ordinary people were not allowed to wear colors reserved for the imperial family or use embroidery patterns that symbolized noble rank or official status. This doesn't mean they dressed in rags—far from it. In dynasties known for open social customs and economic prosperity, commoners, especially women, could dress quite elegantly and colorfully. Chinese people in those era placed great importance on festivals. During celebrations like the Lantern Festival, Spring Festival, and Shangsi Festival(Double Third Festival for Spring Outing), they would go out to meet people, so they pay extra attention to their attire. It was very common for ordinary people to save up for a few nice sets of clothing — not being wealthy didn’t mean they had no decent clothes to wear.

Particularly during the Song and Ming dynasties, it was common for ordinary people to wear brocade. In the Song dynasty, wearing floral headpieces(huaguan花冠) was popular among women, whether noble or common. By the Ming dynasty, women could even wear bridal attire resembling phoenix crowns and embroidered capes(feng guan xia pei凤冠霞帔) for their weddings — as long as they avoided patterns exclusive to the nobility. Even maids from noble households could dress in lavish and delicate attire, thanks to the advanced silk weaving techniques of the time. Though they were commoners by status, their clothing was often indistinguishable from that of the young ladies of wealthy families.

Also you can often see commoner men in classical paintings wearing long robes like formal gowns, cloaks, or even loose-sleeved garments, while commoner women usually wore a top layered over a skirt. Basically, commoners and nobles wore very similar styles of clothing. The real differences were in the fabric, decorative patterns, and craftsmanship.

In discussions among Chinese netizens, there is a divide in opinions regarding Hanfu. Some argue that there should be greater promotion of "commoner hanfu""everyday hanfu""modern hanfu" – simpler, more practical styles suitable for daily wear and relaxing at home – rather than always opting for elaborate, ornate Hanfu that requires time-consuming hairstyling and makeup. Others believe that in the modern era, intricate Hanfu represents the artistic heritage of past laborers and artisans, not just the privileged class, and that people should be free to wear whatever they prefer.

Nowadays hanfu content creators widely share this sentiment: Many of today's Chinese people are descendants of resilient ordinary ancestors who survived generations of war, natural disasters and hardships. In this era of material abundance, they now wear exquisitely crafted hanfu. Wearing hanfu feels like fulfilling a long-cherished wish on behalf of their forebears—after all, everyone hopes to dress as they please; These garments embody the craftsmanship, wisdom, and diligence of historical laboring people (even royal hanfu was made by embroiderers and weavers, who themselves came from ordinary backgrounds); so exquisitely crafted hanfu never belonged exclusively to the wealthy; it truly belongs to the people.

Of course, not all hanfu content creators share the same view. Some hanfu bloggers still believe that daily outings should feature simpler, more casual Hanfu styles rather than always dressing in elaborate attire. Their reasoning is: “I still hold the view that the revival of Hanfu depends on reaching a broader market. Only when people who don’t follow traditional culture become aware of Hanfu can it truly take root.” Other bloggers respond in a more conversational tone: “Public tastes vary. While some prefer simplicity, most people are first drawn to eye-catching, gorgeous outfits, which then spark their interest to learn more. I don’t think we should dictate what others should wear—clothing is a personal expression. Those who prefer simple, everyday styles should wear them, and those who love intricate designs should embrace those.” In practice, it’s common for people to switch between different Hanfu styles depending on the occasion and their needs. Many content creators have also shown interest in commoners hanfu and have recreated styles suitable for both lounging at home and going out.

OP posted her homemade mantou saying she doesn't plan to take any apprentices. And Chinese netizens rushed to share theirs too. (cr 猫猫的毛线球)

Cnetizens:

Ohter Cnetizens:

These are all successful cases.⬇️

Some steamed buns are just beyond definition, impossible to tell if they're hits or misses.

Beijing's Yonghe Temple was originally the palace of Prince Yong—who later became the historically famous Emperor Yongzheng—during the Qing Dynasty and was later converted into a Buddhist monastery. Serving as both an active religious site and a well-known cultural landmark, it has also become a popular spot for making wishes. In recent years, its reputation for "granting wishes in unexpectedly literal ways" has turned it into an internet sensation.

Chinese netizens say every wish you make is heard by the divine — but they may come true in the weirdest ways possible. So now, Chinese netizens are trying to outsmart the gods by adding detailed conditions and closing grammatical loopholes to keep them from twisting the wish. Seems like it's not working very well, though.

A post by Cnetizen say:"I went to Yonghe Temple, and Grandpa Four (a folksy nickname for Emperor Yongzheng/Prince Yong, who was the fourth son of Kangxi) really delivered that same day."

"Grandpa Four: You had your chance and you blew it! I went to Yonghe Temple to pray for love. I silently repeated my wish to every single deity there. On the way back that night, my entire sleeper carriage was packed with good-looking hot guys. The only two charging ports in the carriage were right in front of my compartment, so they kept gathering near my window. Even the guy on the middle bunk across from me was a tall, handsome one. Was Grandpa Four finally coming through? But I was too shy to ask for anyone’s contact. Grandpa Four gave me an opening and I totally fumbled it — they all got off before me. #YongheTempleWishes #JustKeepTheFaith" (cr周奕杨)

That said, you can also skip the wishing and just go to enjoy the scenery or buy some shouchuan手串(traditional chinese bracelets) — both the views and the shouchuan at Yonghe Temple are quite beautiful.