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

'On its most radical side, the new wave of Chinese SF has been thriving on an avant-garde cultural spirit that encourages one to think beyond the conventional ways of perceiving reality and to challenge the commonly accepted ideas about progress, development, economic miracle, and nation and people.'

["A New Continent for China Scholars: Chinese Science Fiction Studies" — Mingwei Song]

'[...] the history of Chinese science fiction has never been a continuous one. It is full of gaps and interruptions caused by politics or the change of cultural paradigms. Only on a few occasions could they get access to earlier authors' work, but they rarely received obvious, substantial influences from them.'

["A New Continent for China Scholars: Chinese Science Fiction Studies" — Mingwei Song]

Names of some famous contemporary Chinese SF writers:

Liu Cixin
Wang Jinkang
Han Song
He Xi
Chen Qiufan
Fei Dao
Baoshu
Zhang Ran
Jiang Bo
A Que
Zhao Haihong
Ling Chen
Chi Hui
Xia Jia
Hao Jingfang
Chen Qian
Tang Fei

In 1900, the Chinese translation of French author Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days was published—it was the first piece of translated foreign SF published in China, translated by Chen Shoupeng and Xue Shaohui from an English translation [...]. Lu Xun [...] also translated several SF novels into Chinese [...].'

[2/2]

'Science fiction as we know it today first came to China in the late Qing Dynasty. Chinese intellectuals like Lu Xun and Liang Qichao emphasized the importance of SF as a tool to help the country prosper.

[1]

'After locating the most joyful days of their lives, they edited them together into a highlight reel that they looped over and over in what little time they had left. It was the best way to squeeze the most out of the end of life, so they could die with smiles on their faces.'

["A History of Future Illnesses" — Chen Qiufan]

'My old job was all about creating need, encouraging people to pursue things that didn't matter for their lives, and then I used the money they gave in exchange to purchase illusions others had created for me. Round after round, we never seemed to tire of the game.'

["Coming of the Light" — Chen Qiufan]

' "Let's find a famous and respected monk to consecrate this app—'bring light into it'—so that every picture it takes becomes a charm to ward off evil. We'll create a sharing economy of blessings." '

["Coming of the Light" — Chen Qiufan]

'Are my thoughts really my thoughts? Will others discover the unvarnished monologue going through my mind? Is the image others have of me consistent with my real self? Even though the brain box is capable of preserving only the last five minutes, the sensation of being monitored is ever-present, inescapable.'

["The Brain Box" — Regina Kanyu Wang]

' "[...] Most people fill the notepad from front to back. Every page after today is blank. It's possible to recall the past, but impossible to know the future." She flipped the notepad over so that the stiff backing was on top. "I'm different. I fill my notepad from the back to the front. My memories are filled with the future. [...]" '

["Reflection" — Gu Shi]