New wave of Chinese sci-fi takes shape

Chinese science fiction readers have long been curious about what would follow the success of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Trilogy. According to Song Mingwei, a noted science fiction scholar and chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Wellesley College in the US, the answer is now clear.

In a video for the "Emerging Chinese Science Fiction Writers: An International Outlook", an event co-organized by the China Writers Association and China Science Writers Association, Song explained that a new wave of Chinese sci-fi is unfolding.

"Following the first wave created by (writers) Liu Cixin, Han Song, Wang Jinkang, among others, which illuminated 'sinotopia' for the world, the second wave of Chinese science fiction is currently being made in a free, nonbinary literary universe created by an entire generation of younger writers," Song said.

The March 26 event featured seven writers — Chen Qiufan, Liang Qingsan, Baoshu, Gu Shi, Wang Weilian, Liang Ling, and Shen Dacheng — and attracted some 120 sci-fi publishers, writers, translators, scholars, and readers from more than 20 countries, either in person at PageOne Bookstore in Beijing's Qianmen or online.

Song believes this second wave of Chinese sci-fi writing is born from curiosity and uncertainty about the unknown, and conscious dreaming about alternative futures.

Liu Cixin, also speaking via video, said that humanity stands at a unique point in time where the future is already here, yet history remains ever-present. "As machines grow smarter, people seem more bewildered. The imagination and contemplation of civilization, technology, and human nature have become everyday topics of discussion. Young Chinese science fiction writers are enriching these discussions with their captivating works, providing diverse perspectives rooted in Eastern civilization," Liu said.

Echoing this sentiment at the bookstore, Liang Ling shared her passion for blending reality with imagination in her writing, using science fiction as a means to transcend reality and cross boundaries. Her novella Su Zhi Tian (Speed Candy), found in her latest book Anywhere Station, is written like a documentary and delves into a near-future scenario in the food delivery industry.

In the story, a delivery company introduces a product called "speed candy". When consumed by delivery workers, this sweet doubles their speed, allowing them to complete more deliveries and earn higher incomes. However, the candy has serious hidden side effects, including health issues, accelerated aging, and impacts on the workers' children. Despite these consequences, the delivery company repeatedly conceals the truth.

"Through this work, I want to question our times: as we relentlessly chase a society that values being higher, faster, and more efficient, do health, life, and dignity still hold a place in our priorities?" Liang Ling said at the event.

Following Liang Ling's insights, Gu Shi's multi-award-winning story Ze Cheng (City of Choice) tackles the question, "When humanity faces climate change, should we confront it together, or should we give power to those who are more likely to survive the subsequent disasters?"

The plot features the legendary Chinese figure Da Yu, who is reimagined as an AI navigation system that helps people escape flooding. However, the protagonist, a city safety planner, discovers that the AI prioritizes speed when guiding her child but slows down when she's alone, effectively abandoning the elderly and the sick.

With an open ending, the story "could be a scenario from our era that science fiction can explore, opening up a topic for discussion", she added.

Baoshu, in his comments, said he uses science fiction to reflect on the relationship between history and the present.

In his book series Our Science Fiction Era, the first volume of which has been translated into English and Japanese, he explores themes from the 1960s onward, touching on familiar historical and contemporary issues like the Cold War, the rise of science fiction, and market transformation.

"I want to use a science fiction approach to combine familiar everyday life with our own history, our parents' history, and possibly other elements. The story will be expansive. For instance, I'll use the concept of parallel universes to explore events from the Cold War," he said at the bookstore.

"The topic itself is quite intriguing," he added.

By "science fiction era", Baoshu explained that he uses the idea that "we're currently living in a time that feels very much like science fiction".