Introduction to Chinese Science Fiction

1. Chinese Science Fiction Introduction

2. Two recent anthologies of contemporary Chinese SF: Invisible
Planets, published in 2016, and Broken Stars, published in 2019.
Both edited and translated by Ken Liu.

3. New Wave of
Chinese Science
Fiction Writers
Liu Cixin
Han Song
Wang Jinkang
He Xi
La La
Zhao Haihong
Chen Qiufan
Xia Jia
Fei Dao
Hao Jingfang
Chi Hui

4. Liu Cixin
• Most prominent Chinese SF writer.
In English translations of his work,
his name is given as Cixin Liu
• Nine-time winner of China’s
Galaxy Award; also received Hugo
Award for his novel The Three-
Body Problem
• Graduated from North China
University of Water Conservancy
and Electric Power in 1988. Then
worked as a computer engineer at
a power plant
• Cites British authors George
Orwell and Arthur C. Clarke as
influences on his writing

5. Liu Cixin’s
Three-Body Problem
• The Three-Body Problem,
originally published in 2008 for
Chinese readers
• English translation published in
2014
• The novel received the Hugo
Award for Asia in 2015
• Title for the entire work is
Remembrance of Earth’s Past
• The novel quickly made it on
the New York Times bestseller
list.

6. Three-Body Problem
• Tells the story of alien
invasion of Earth
• Three-body problem refers a
problem in physics and
classical mechanics

7. What makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?
• SF’s creative aspirations—complex machinery, new modes of transport,
global travel, space exploration—are seen as fantasies and dreams of
modernity, and thus woven into the construction of a “Chinese Dream”
• SF fueled by modernization, industrialization, modern capitalism,
and globalization
• Long history of SF in China - born at the turn of the 20th century when
Chinese intellectuals were fascinated by Western science and
technology. Changing relationship to science and technology.
• As a speculative genre of literature, SF allows writers of the younger
generation to engage with social and economic contradictions around
them.

8. History of Chinese SF (Early 20th Century)
• Born at turn of 20th century—intellectuals fascinated by
Western science and technology
• At first, Chinese SF served practical and instrumentalist
purposes. Seen as tools of propaganda for building a
strong China
• Early works seen as literary tools for “improving thinking and
assisting culture,” writes Lu Xun.
• In 1900, a Chinese translation of Jules Verne’s Around the
World in Eighty Days was published. First piece of foreign SF
published in China

9. History of Chinese SF (People’s Republic)
• After the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, science
fiction become a tool for popularizing science and
scientific knowledge.
• Main audience was children. SF became a branch of socialist
literature influenced by the SF in Soviet Union
• Science and technology seen as positive forces—thus the
realism of SF was infused with revolutionary idealism
• This period eventually led to the Cultural Revolution in China,
which left little space for literature of any kind, especially SF
literature that bore resemblance to Western capitalism

10. History of Chinese SF (1970s and 1980s)
• 1970s and 1980s—the influence of Western SF became
more felt
• Led to debates about whether SF was more about
“science” or “fiction,” with the literary camp winning out
• SF finally started to develop in speculative directions. No
longer had to serve the goal of popularizing science
• SF writers started to develop a modern mode of literary
expression.

11. “Science fiction is the byproduct of the process of
gradual disenchantment with science. The words
create a certain vision of science for the reader. The
vision can be positive or full of suspicion and criticism
—it depends on the age we live in. Contemporary
China is a society in the transition stage when old
illusions have collapsed but new illusions have not yet
taken their place; this is the fundamental cause of the
rips and divisions, the confusion and chaos.”
– Chen Quifan

12. History of Chinese SF (Contemporary Era)
• Chinese SF experienced a renaissance between 1990s and the
present
• SF literary magazines emerged. Birth of new ideas, new voices, and
more diverse group of writers (different ages, regions, professional
backgrounds, social class, ideology, cultural identity, etc.)
• Chinese SF becomes more similar to World SF - starts to confront
complex social reality
• Optimism toward science has vanished; futures are often dark and
unsettling. Writers no longer believe that world’s problems can be
solved by science and technology.

13. Golden Age of Chinese SF (1999-2010)

14. “Science fiction is a literature of possibilities. The universe
we live in is also one of countless possibilities.” -Liu Cixin

15. Why Science Fiction?
• Opens new perspectives and
new forms of seeing, thinking,
feeling, and imagining
• Offers nuanced understanding
of science and technology: their
benefits, implications,
consequences
• Uses alienation, displacement,
and irony to critique realities and
imagine alternatives
• The power of creating models
on different scales. Combines
and bridges scales: local/global,
micro/macro, human/nonhuman