Compositional translation:
虚 ('empty') +
无 ('nothing') +
主义 ('-ism') = 'empty-nothing-ism' = 'nihilism.'
主义 (zhǔyì) is the Chinese suffix for any '-ism':
共产主义 ('communism'),
资本主义 ('capitalism'),
现实主义 ('realism'). In modern Chinese discourse,
历史虚无主义 ('historical nihilism') is a politically loaded phrase used to criticize revisionist or dismissive readings of CCP-approved historical narratives.
