P.E.’s Reviews > Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation > Status Update

'The biggest fear is for someone else to understand what you really fear.'

[The Fish of Lijiang – Chen Qiufan]

****


See also:
The Factory– H. Oyamada
The Magic Mountain – T. Mann
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – PKD
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – PKD
Algorithms for Love – K. Liu
Idéal – T. Hayman & B. Chaubard
A Distant Neighbourhood – J. Taniguchi

'[...] I had deliberately failed my Classical Chinese exam so I could stay in school. I hated the thought of looking for a job, renting an apartment, getting to work at nine A.M. just so I could look forward to five P.M., fealing with office politics, etc., etc. School was much more agreeable: I got to download music and movies foe free, the cafeteria was cheap [...].'

[The previous note deals with the contemporary Chinese writer Chen Qiufan]

'[...] The Year of the Rat, The Fish of Lijiang, and The Flower of Shazui showcase Chen's unique aethetic of melding a global, post-cyberpunk sensibility with China's traditions and complex historical legacy. By turns cynical, hopeful, playful and didactic, Chen captures the zeitgeist of contemporary China, a culture going through a shocking transition and transformation.'