Moscow lit up by 'The Stars'

Decades before Chinese science fiction writer Zhao Lei — better known by his pen name Qiyue (July) — arrived in Moscow with his novel The Stars, he was a middle school student saving an entire semester's pocket money to buy the works of Soviet science fiction pioneer Alexander Belyaev.

In September, that early literary connection took on new meaning as Qiyue introduced his own vision of the future to Russian readers at the 39th Moscow International Book Fair.

"For me, Belyaev and Jules Verne were the two writers who introduced me to science fiction," he said.

Held from Sept 2 to 6 in the Russian capital, the book fair brought together writers and publishers from China and Russia. Qiyue attended as part of a Chinese delegation organized by China Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation Ltd.

On Sept 3, Qiyue joined popular Russian science fiction writer Vadim Panov for a discussion on Chinese and Russian science fiction. The venue was packed, with visitors passing through the exhibition area also stopping to hear the two writers discuss the development of science fiction in China and Russia, its international influence and the future of human civilization.

In Qiyue's opinion, the recent rise of Chinese science fiction is closely connected with the country's rapid technological and social development.

"Literature is always a reflection of reality," he said. "As China has begun moving toward technological innovation and creating the future, Chinese people have also become more interested in the future than they were before. They can increasingly imagine themselves living in a future shaped by technology. This has created fertile ground for the rise of Chinese science fiction."

He said, however, that Chinese science fiction is still developing and has yet to establish a mature, stable, creative ecosystem with a widely recognizable identity. At the same time, he sees an emerging Chinese character in some works, which he describes as "a form of collective heroism rooted in ordinary people".

"It is neither an individual protagonist awakening and performing a selfless heroic act, nor the vague collective efforts of ordinary people," he said. "It is more like starting from the perspective of each individual, igniting each person's small flame, and eventually bringing all those lights together."

A signing session for the Russian edition of The Stars followed the discussion. According to the organizers, copies of the book quickly sold out, and a long line formed at the signing table. Some readers bought copies for friends and relatives who could not attend, and one fan purchased four books.

First published in Chinese in 2019, The Stars was released in Russian by AST Publishers in 2024.

Set in the near future, the novel explores the consequences of mysterious signals detected by China's FAST telescope, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope. Genetic information encoded in one of the signals enables scientists to create an alien "construct" that begins to alter the known laws of physics.

Yet beneath its cosmic scale, the novel remains grounded in ordinary human lives.

"When I wrote this novel, I simply wanted to be sincere — to write about the reality I had actually seen and the people I knew and understood," Qiyue said.

The scientists he knows must deal not only with major scientific questions but also with the pressures of buying a home, getting married, and building a career.

"People's struggles are never only 'big struggles'. They are a mixture of problems, both large and small," he said. "An everyday concern involving a 100-square-meter apartment can become intertwined with a science fiction canvas spanning thousands of light-years. That contrast arises naturally."

That attention to ordinary life, he believes, is also what allows The Stars to connect with readers overseas.

"I don't know whether Russians have the same anxiety about buying a home, but I believe they also face all kinds of real-life difficulties," he said. "The specific circumstances may be different, but the experiences people share are universal."

On Sept 2, Qiyue visited Respublika, a major bookstore chain in Russia, for a reader meet-and-greet and book signing. He spoke with local science fiction enthusiasts about his writing journey, the conception of The Stars and how he places ordinary lives within stories that unfold on a cosmic scale.

Qiyue began publishing science fiction in 2001 and became a full-time writer in 2019. He has been honored at the Galaxy Awards and the Chinese Nebula Awards.

From a teenager saving his pocket money for Russian science fiction to signing his own novel for Russian readers, Qiyue's journey to Moscow has come full circle.

Through The Stars, the conversation continues — across languages, borders and imaginations — about the future of humanity and the lives of ordinary people within it.