Years ago, I went through a phase where I was into Alt history stories as written by western authors. There was Eric Flint's 1932 series and the whole genre of ISOT that followed it. There was a forum I frequently which often drew up long alt-history timelines based on various changes to real life history.
Of course, most of the stories/threads I enjoyed were centered around US/Europe/Russia/etc. Anything related to China (and there really weren't much) I ignored because it was obvious they are writing China-in-name-only due to cultural limitations. And then I lost interest due to too much 'Murica F*ck Yeah.
Recently, there has been a surge of alt-history stories on Chinese sites. Specifically, the [历史直播] genre has been sweeping jjwxc by storm. They're everywhere. The basic idea of it is essentially, historical education videos (similar to what you would find on bilibili) are getting broadcasted to various imperial china settings as a heavenly viewscreen, and the story basically consists of the info in those broadcasts, and reaction shots of various historical figures, and the impacts on various points of history.
At first, there was a couple I enjoyed just for the content of the historical broadcasts. Some of it is informative, China having such a long and colorful history, and lots of parts are literally were life was stranger/grander than art could be.
Then slowly, after reading so...very...many...of these stories, the problem of quality again becomes apparent. A lot of these are so very cookie-cutter, and often filled with inaccurate history directly copied off some wiki. So very few authors bother to research into the actual history, and instead use pop history (or the stuff from TV dramas *rolleyes*).
Even moreso getting on my nerves now, are the depictions of historical figures, which you could swap them for some modern rando and it wouldn't be a jarring change. Almost nobody bothers to respect the fact these guys are charismatic leaders, genius strategists, or career politicians.
I will throw out some names here.
秦始皇 is like the new pop star of history or something. So many authors dream of "saving" Qin by making 刘邦 and his famed historical supporters into Qin employees. Of 墨家 magically being able to take 《天工开物》 or even more modern texts from the Qing/Republic eras, and then directly move into 科举制 and industrialization within a single generation. Oh, and the ever present meme of giving 秦始皇 a world map resulting in Qin conquering the world (or at least Europe) in order to "save" modern students from having to learn English. Just... eh. Great fantasy, I guess?
Poor 汉武帝 often gets relegated into comedic relief. These stories/sections are often focused on 卫青 & 霍去病 and their military exploits. The political and economic achievements of 汉武帝 are often glossed over in favor of focusing on his 后宫, the sad fate of his crown prince, and the (historically nonexistent) "罪己诏" that "proves" he regretted his policies earlier in his reign. He's not my favorite emperor, but he sure gets my sympathies after reading too many of these stories.
And then there's 唐太宗, who I will admit beforehand is my favorite ancient chinese historical figure, and whom I'd written a term paper on back at Cal. Also one of the most admired emperors even historically speaking, by the Song literati, the Ming founders, and even more recent figures (aka. "自古能君无出李世民之右者，其次则朱元璋耳"). But unfortunately, he's now a victim of pop culture, often cast as minor character or even antagonist of modern Tang related dramas, resulting in a lot of smearing via fake history and rabid drama fans.
Like, 隋炀帝 is now getting whitewashed as a 明君 who's "工在千秋"? WTF? Depopulating 3/4 of the population is "工在千秋" for works that he neither succeeded in nor invented？
Like, 李建成 is now getting whitewashed as an excellent "守城之君" who would've done perfectly well on the throne? WTF? We're just ignoring the awful decisions he is on record for supporting during 李渊's reign? And making up "feats" to support his excellency in governance? Feats such as 李世民 having to make up for logistics on his own while on campaign rather than getting support from home? [/sarcasm]
Like, even when forced to having to admit 李世民 is an excellent emperor in the history of chinese leaders (because reality, people), don't think I don't notice various authors still keep trying to downplay his achievements by pretty much glossing over pretty much all the nitty details of his policies as ruler, and (again) focusing on the drama of his succession issues and his 后宫. Oh, and the overly used cliche of him worrying about how the future historians/public will view his 玄武门之变.
And also I have noticed that these "broadcasts", often times with various emperors, the story will stop at the end of that emperor's life & reign. With 李世民 they will often go the extra step of continuing to talk about Tang up through 安史之乱 or even late Tang. Like, I have to ask, what does that have to do with 李世民? It's impossible for him to fix stuff that happens a century down the line. So it's just an excuse for him to spit blood/get mad at his descendants? (Not that IMO he'd be that affected by something so detached as an nth gen descendant, honestly.) Oh, and the not-so-subtle implication that the problems of Tang as a 300 year dynasty are his karmic desserts for implementing 玄武门之变.
Just.....ugh. Writing up a defense on behalf of 唐太宗 is gonna be whole 'nother essay by itself.
I'll end this one with a couple of rec links for the rare diamond among the rough.
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