Science fiction museum opens in Wenjiang

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2019-01-24

China's first private science fiction museum was recently established in Wenjiang district, Chengdu. It collects works and manuscripts from famous science fiction writers from the end of the Qin dynasty onward.

The year 1904 was regarded as the beginning of science fiction literature in China. Yueqiu Zhimingdi Xiaoshuo ("lunar colony") by Xu Nianci, serialized in Xiuxiang Xiaoshuo ("illustrated fiction"), is widely considered the first original Chinese work of science fiction.

Descendants of science fiction writers attended the museum's opening ceremony and donated manuscripts and rare books. The granddaughter of Gu Junzheng (a late science fiction writer and translator) donated the science magazine Kexue Quwei ("science interest"), which was originally published in 1939.

Representatives of Bian Yulin (a famous science fiction writer and astronomy professor) donated his translation manuscript of Isaac Asimov's To the Ends of the Universe and the screenplay for Carl Sagan's TV series The Universe.

The museum's collections are expected to impress visitors and teach them about the history of science fiction in China.

The translation manuscript of To the Ends of the Universe. [Photo/cdwb.com.cn]