Sci-fi blasts off
Print Edition
For many years, science fiction attracted few Chinese readers, but in the past few years the genre has been taking off. Yao Minji explores the reasons.
When Lu Xun and scholar-educator Liang Qichao introduced the adventure novels of French writer Jules Verne as early as 1900, they hoped the ingenious, sci-fi precursors would spur interest in science in China.
At the time, the nation was falling apart and intellectuals believed science and technology would be saviors. The early stories Lu translated from Japanese sold poorly for decades.
The first best-selling Chinese science fiction was written in 1961 by children’s author Ye Yonglie who followed a child into the future where people traveled by nuclear-powered boats and wore watches that broadcast TV programs.
For years, science fiction was either marginalized or categorized as a sub-genre of children’s books. There were almost no Chinese publishers for sci-fi, except for the journal Science Fiction World, which was established in 1979 and mainly published Western works.
Many people were surprised when science fiction suddenly took off in China in the past three to five years, despite the declining readership in the West, where it originated and where fantasy now reigns.
“The genre is on the rise and it might even be called a boom,” says Yan Feng, Chinese literature professor from Fudan University and editor-in-chief of magazine Science & Vie.
“Mainstream Chinese literature has always followed the realistic tradition. And Chinese writers are not traditionally strong in imagination, which is essential in science fiction,” Yan adds.
Powerful imagination about the vast universe is what attracts university student Stella Wu to the genre, starting with the trilogy “Three Body” by engineer Liu Cixin, considered by many to be China’s best sci-fi author.
Citing Arthur C. Clarke as a major influence, Liu applies the famous mathematical predicament, the three-body problem, as the basis of an alien civilization that plans to migrate to earth since their own world is ending.
The book is said to have sold half a million copies since it was published in late 2010. It is to be published in English next year and Hollywood movie rights have been sold.
“I’ve never read any sci-fi, except for some children’s stories,” says Wu. “But when a classmate told me about this book that begins with a scene from the ‘cultural revolution’ (1966-1976), I got curious. Then I had to finish it.”
Wu has become a sci-fi fan, buying classics and checking updates of online novels. She is one among many new Chinese science-fiction readers.
The top click stories on Qidian, a large forum for online novels, includes two science fiction works in its top 10. Sci-fi ranks after fantasy and romance on many online fiction sites.
The Internet is a major factor behind the rapid rise of sci-fi, says Zhou Huaming, a games product director and part-time science-fiction writer.
There were virtually no print publishers for sci-fi, so Science Fiction World magazine and the Internet were almost the only way. “Although many people don’t take online sites seriously, they are significant in terms of quantity of novels and readers,” Zhou says.
Professor and editor Yan also cites the importance of the Internet and the need for escapist reading. “People tend to choose non-realistic novels online, in contrast with mainstream realistic novels, so they often read fantasy or science fiction.”
Another reason for the rise is increased interest in science. “Chinese are paying more attention to science-related events, such as China’s space program and global warming, fields they didn’t know or care much about before,” Yan says.
Publishers are also interested.
Guo Jingming, director of the controversial hit film “Tiny Times” about urban young people, knows what young adults want. He is also a successful writer and publisher whose list contains four young sci-fi writers.
The science popularization website Guo Ke (www.guokr.com) now publishes science books and sci-fi from China and overseas.
“There are some good Chinese sci-fi writers, but Liu Cixin (‘Three Body’) is unique in terms of his grand imagination, transcendental perspective to see Chinese reality from a cosmic point of view, as well as drama, intrigue and fast-paced story,” says Yan.
In “Three Body,” Liu constructs an alien planet under the collective gravity of a triple star system. The alien Trisolaran civilization faces extinction as their world is dying. They find hope when they are contacted by a Chinese scientist who just lost her parents in the “cultural revolution.”
They decide to migrate to Earth but earthlings are divided. Some welcome them, some want to fight the aliens, and some want the Trisolarans to wipe out everything on earth and start over.
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