Exploring AI, pain and human body

Pain might be a crucial factor that sets humans apart from artificial intelligence, as AI is currently unable to experience pain firsthand, Chinese science fiction writer Wang Kanyu told an audience at an event in mid-August.

At the Korean Cultural Center in Shanghai on Aug 13 and 14, Wang joined South Korean writers Kim Cho-yeop and Cheon Seon-ran, all three of whom had contributed to a collection of short stories, Shenti, Zailai (Body, Again). The event saw the women discuss their work, while actors read their stories aloud.

Both Kim and Cheon are hailed as rising stars "standing at the dawn of Korean science fiction", while Wang, as a recipient of the Chinese Nebula Awards, is one of the genre's strongest new talents in China.

Shenti, Zailai, launched by the Future Affairs Administration, a company based in Beijing specializing in sci-fi publications, consulting and filmmaking, in collaboration with the South Korean publisher Influential and Shanghai Translation Publishing House, was published in 2025 in both Chinese and Korean versions.

Featuring works by South Korean authors Kim Cho-yeop, Kim Chunggyul, and Cheon, alongside Chinese authors Zhou Wen, Cheng Jingbo, and Wang, the book comprises stories by female sci-fi writers exploring the future possibilities of human bodies.

The script reading of Shenti, Zailai was overseen by South Korean music producer Oh Se-hyeok and was adapted by South Korean playwrights and performed live by professional South Korean actors. The event was booked out soon after being announced, and both sessions were packed with attendees.

Lee Dong-hyeok, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Shanghai, said, "Body, Again centers on the theme of 'the body' and provides a valuable platform for young writers from South Korea and China to engage with readers from both countries from different perspectives, fostering exchange and building mutual resonance."

He expressed hope that the event, combining literary exchange and script reading, will encourage mutual inspiration between South Korean and Chinese literature and serve as an opportunity to enhance cultural exchange between the two countries, exploring more possibilities for artistic creation.

At the event, different South Korean artists interpreted Wang's Jade Carving, Kim's Sweet and Tepid Sadness, and Cheon's Iron Record. The stories were brought to life through narration and dialogue, enhanced by sound, lighting, and visuals.

Jade Carving illustrated the physical pain felt by three groups of women; Sweet and Tepid Sadness was filled with the constant buzzing of bees; and Iron Record was bathed in red light, depicting the protagonist's struggle for bodily autonomy against a machine.

"It was an intense thrill hearing the lines spoken aloud. The voice carries a powerful energy, and in those moments, the characters felt genuinely alive," Cheon said, when asked what she thought of the performance.

As for Kim, she said she found it fascinating how the characters seemed even more vivid and lifelike than when she was writing them.

Each performance highlighted the moment when the character suddenly awakens to a profound awareness of their own body's existence, inspiring readers to question their own understanding of their bodies.

Wang said that as a sci-fi writer, she used to focus more on distant futures, space, and philosophical topics. It was not until she started practicing martial arts about 10 years ago that she learned to "communicate" with her own body. She became more aware of her body but struggled to find the right story to represent the experience she gained from learning martial arts.

However, when invited to write a story for Shenti, Zailai that focused on the human body, she used the experience of pain as the perspective — a deeply personal experience that connects everyone.

Later, she discovered that the theme of pain was used as inspiration by other authors, demonstrating its universality among humankind and as a sensation that separates people from AI.

As a woman, Wang is also interested in forms of pain unique to women — like menstrual cramps and childbirth — that are rarely explored in science fiction. She said these experiences offer fresh perspectives on well-worn science fiction themes.

"The same story, retold through different bodily experiences, can still create new meanings," she said.

Kim said the connection between body and mind has always been a central theme in her writing. She recently realized that her awareness of her body and emotions is less acute than that of others, challenging common stereotypes about women. However, this "insensitivity" has led her to observe and understand her emotions and feelings from an external, objective perspective.

Cheon said that she began focusing on the body when her mother was severely ill, confined to a wheelchair, and unable to control her own movements.

"The theme of the body fits well with the sci-fi genre, so I described the body in more detail when writing this story (Iron Record)," she explained.

Her interest in the body also had another origin — she loved watching zombie movies with her sister as a child. Her favorite scenes involved the question: "When a mom turns into a zombie, the body is still there, but is the consciousness still the same person?" This question is related to her story Iron Record in the anthology, which explores how much our bodies can truly express who we are.

Cheon sees "the body" from another angle. "The body allows us to exist as 'I', but it also seems to trap us within this shell of 'I', even suppressing us." She said she believes that while the body is the starting point of human existence, it shouldn't be the defining or ultimate condition of being "human".

"We must embrace the diverse forms that bodies can take. I believe that in the future, we'll see more 'bodies' that go beyond current definitions. To prepare for that time, we need to think about how we should accept the 'body'," she said.

After Jade Carving, Wang continued to explore themes related to the body in several works. In her short story Qiwu Nong Qingying (Dancing Away from Shadows), she tells the story of a Chinese classical dancer who uses three different bodies to perform three dances on a variety of stages in space, bringing the flying fairies depicted on the murals of Mogao Caves in Dunhuang into the vast cosmos.

In her latest work, Binghe Humeng (Dream of the Glacial Lake), the main character, whose consciousness has been uploaded to cyberspace, unexpectedly reunites with her three bodies, and together they enjoy fireworks over a glacier. Wang said "the body" will remain a focus for her future writing.

Cheon is currently working on a novel about a soul that inhabits a doll, a robot, and a human body in succession. This novel is set to be published in South Korea next January.

She is also excited about the idea of reuniting the original team from Shenti, Zailai to create another collection of stories.

"It's rare for authors from different countries to write on the same theme, and if we come together again, whether it's about zombies or the universe, it would be fantastic," she said.