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Liu Cixin becomes first Chinese to win Hugo Award for best novel

Source: Xinhua | August 24, 2015, Monday | Online Edition

LIU Cixin, author of The Three-Body Problem, has become the first Chinese to take home the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Awarded on Sunday by the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, the 52-year-old writer is also the first in Asia to win the honor.

"The Three-Body Problem" is a trilogy depicting an alien civilization's invasion of Earth during China's Culture Revolution. It centers on a secret military project that enables humans to establish contact with the alien civilization teetering on the edge of extinction.

The story was published in China from 2006 to 2010, and its English version in 2014.

The novel series received the Chinese Science Fiction Galaxy Award in 2006 and 2010, and has been acclaimed as the best Chinese sci-fic novel.

Established in 1953, the Hugo Awards are a set of awards given annually to the best science fiction or fantasy achievement, and are seen as the "highest honor bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing."  

'Very happy'

In a telephone interview with Xinhua, Liu said he was "very happy" about the accolade but "will treat the award with a humble attitude and won't get overwhelmed."

Liu said the accolade would boost the export of Chinese sci-fi works to the United States and help Americans better understand Chinese sci-fis, but he refrained from overestimating its boost on China's sci-fi writing.

"Science fiction writing across the world is on a decline ... which I assume is because technology is losing its mystery, while mystery is an important backbone of sci-fi composition," he said.

"Historic breakthrough"

Science fictions remain a small literary genre in China despite people's love for new-tech gadgets like Apple Watch and Hollywood sci-fi films. But enthusiasm has been fanned up by a number of good news in recent years, including the announcement that the movie adaption of "The Three-Body Problem" has completed filming and will hit screen next year.

The Hugo prize may be the latest to exhilarate Chinese sci-fi writers and fans. On Sunday, China's cyberspace crackled with posts extending congratulations and expressing pride.

"Science fiction is born and raised in the West, but has also found fertile land in the Orient," Yan Feng, professor with Fudan University and a sci-fi critic, commented on his microblog.

"It marks a historical breakthrough for China's sci-fi," said Yao Haijun, chief editor of Science Fiction World, China's largest sci-fi magazine.

Yao expected the start of an "equal exchange" between Chinese and English sci-fi to change the largely one-way introduction of English works into China in the past.

"Moreover, even though Liu created this miraculous work several years ago, we had little confidence back then. This prize will help us reevaluate our sci-fi," he told Xinhua.

Wu Yan, professor with Beijing Normal University and a sci-fi critic, predicted a sci-fi reading fever following the award.

"It will call more public attentions to Chinese sci-fi writers and their works ... and greatly boost China's sci-fi industry," he told Xinhua.

Wu attributed Liu's Hugo success to the novel's high quality as well as the concerted efforts by Chinese publishers, the book's translator, and many die-hard fans' vigorous promotion.

Published in China between 2006 and 2010, the trilogy has been hailed as the best Chinese sci-fi series with over 1 million copies sold in China. But its first book was not translated into English until 2014.

"The Dark Forest," the second installment of the saga, became available in the United States earlier this month, and translation of the last one, "Death's End," is expected to hit shelves next year.

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