Many a prank call to the Foreign Ministry begins: 'Hello, is Li Hongzhang there?' But operators at the ministry will have a hard time finding Li - as he was a foreign minister in the Qing dynasty nearly 100 years ago.
Many of the prank callers are young people disappointed with what they perceive as China's money-centred foreign policy - the joke being that Li has, for years, been officially reviled as a traitor who sold out China's interests to foreigners.
In contrast with these publicly accepted views of Li is a shocking turnabout that is already under way in the Chinese media. Li's new, improved image is being presented in the television series Marching Towards a Republic, which explores sensitive issues, such as why systemic corruption led to dynastic collapse during the Qing era.
The series recently ended on CCTV 1, the mainland's most prissy, politically correct national station, and has left people wondering what is going on. Li's character is the good guy through the 50 episodes, an unprecedented rewriting of history.
Li's era, spanning late Qing and early Republican history, was a time of regional warlordism, dynastic corruption and foreign control over industry and trade. It was a period which has been officially denounced in education and media circles since 1949, and nobody would dare compare it with China's situation today.
But Marching Towards a Republic is sending some confusing messages about the Li legacy, making the programme the hottest topic of conversation since Sars. After 50 years of official disdain, Li is being relabelled a 'patriot with historic responsibility'.