Sci-fi made in China(2)

Universe of themes

While dealing with common themes such as science being a double-edged sword or a clash of civilizations somewhere in space, contemporary Chinese science fiction has nonetheless shown a distinct Chinese flavor and its own concerns and perspectives.

"We see in traditional science fiction that Western countries save the world in the face of a major crisis, but in Chinese sci-fi literature, we see the role China plays," said Yao Haijun, deputy editor in chief of Science Fiction World, a popular sci-fi magazine running for over 30 years.

Yao said the subject matter has to do with the rise of China but it has also caught the eye of Western readers and researchers who want to look into China's future through such stories.

In Han Song's 2066: Red Star Over America, first published in 2000, the US has declined and China has become the dominant power in the world. Players of traditional Chinese game, go, are sent to spread their superior civilization to America. During their stay in the US, they see terrorists take down the Twin Towers and plunge the country into chaos. But such predictions do not necessarily show confidence or arrogance about China's power. Writers have shown deep concern about the rapid development of China and the problems it could cause today or in the future.

In this context many science fiction stories are in fact a response to or a reflection of reality but with more imagination, said Song Mingwei, assistant professor of Chinese at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. Song said that the reality of China provides an experimental field for both utopian and dystopian sci-fi.

One example is Life of Ants, by Wang Jinkang. Set during the Cultural Revolution, the main character Yan Zhe is an intellectual youth sent to work in the countryside. Disappointed with the dark side of humanity, he decides to use ant hormones to make people altruistic, disciplined and hardworking. Yan creates a society in which he rules over his hardworking "ants" but his utopia eventually crumbles.

"My main point in writing this novel is that I don't want an almighty god to control the world because there's no way to guarantee his goodness, since eventually he would be corrupted by power," said Wang, 64. Song commented that Yan's utopian experiment essentially epitomizes the experiment of China at the time.

Holding up a mirror

While Wang delves into the past for inspirations, Han Song is very much looking ahead. Han says his job as a journalist at Xinhua News Agency gives him access to the real China.

Many writers and scholars have said that living in today's China sometimes feels surreal. In an earlier interview with the Global Times, Han said that sometimes writing news feels like science fiction.

It seems that Han is fascinated with the rapid development of China, especially transportation. In Subway, published in 2010, Han wrote about a subway train that mysteriously disappears at night and enters a seemingly endless tunnel. Passengers on the speeding train eat and mate with each other, eventually evolving into new lifeforms. It turns out that the train is part of a government subway project which is attempting to connect to the broader universe.

In 2012 he published a book entitled High-speed Railway, which begins with a high-speed railway accident. Shortly after Han finished the book, on July 23, two bullet trains collided in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 200.

In the prefaces and epilogues to the two books, Han wrote about the country's huge investment in building railways and independently developing high-speed railway technologies. Since the first subway line opened in 1969, China has been playing catchup with the Western world and long seen total railway mileage as a symbol of the nation's power and revival.

Yet the rapid development that is often referred to as a miracle has left many people feeling surreal and concerned, much like Han. Reality is what inspires him. Strange, dark, and sometimes horrific, Han's novels are filled with violence, confusion and chaos. His style is often described as kafkaesque.

"There is one aspect of China that has not been written enough, and that's this kafkaesque absurdity of reality," Han told Southern Metropolis Weekly.

Writers admit that the atmosphere for fictional novels has become more tolerant. Most of their works eventually get published, although publishers are still cautious about references to the Cultural Revolution and the darkness of certain stories. Many of them have to go through several publishing houses before finding their luck.

"I think we are now at a good time for science fiction," said Yao. "We have cultivated a group of strong writers, a steady and growing fan base and we are hopeful." Circulation of his Science Fiction World magazine has grown from several thousand to 400,000 copies at its peak.

Still compared to the US where thousands of science fiction titles are published each year, only a hundred or so are published in China. Good writers are also in short supply. "For a long time people didn't believe there's a market for science fiction in China, but I think recent years have proved that is wrong," said Yao.

Unlike in some Western countries where the scientific community embraces science fiction and is involved in writing sci-fi novels, there is little overlap in China. For a long time the country viewed science and technology only as tools, with scientists not supposed to do anything other than research. Only very recently have certain scientists started to venture into sci-fi writing.

There have been other promising changes of late. In particular, as Three Body gained popularity, many publishers have shown their interest in publishing science fiction works.

However, Yao said he is worried that when seeing the market potential of sci-fi literature, some publishers might become short-sighted and too focused on profits rather than fostering good writers and stories, which remain the most important thing.

Sticking to his classic science fiction tradition, Liu is concerned that future writers and readers will see the future moving so fast that science fiction might lose its magic and appeal.