2015...The year that was

6 Liu Cixin and China's sci-fi

In August, China's science fiction writer Liu Cixin won the Hugo Award for his novel, The Three-Body Problem, becoming the first Asian writer to win this top sci-fi writing award.

After Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, Liu's achievement has made waves in China. Liu was praised as the writer who had raised China's sci-fi writing to the world-class standards. Sci-fi has become one of the hottest words in China in 2015. It has been talked about at various events and even by the government.

However, industry sources including Liu are not overly excited. After the award, except for Liu's Three-Body trilogy, there has been no obvious improvement in the sales of domestic sci-fi literature.

Without the market sentiment picking up, it is hard for the industry to really grow, not to mention the overall low quality of sci-fi writing, the small number of readers, the shortage of writers and the declining publishing industry, all of which form a vicious circle.

It is yet to be seen how China's sci-fi writing will develop in 2016－either the wave will fade or another major award will breathe new life.