After 1989: The New Wave of Chinese Science Fiction
Abstract
This paper examines the new wave of Chinese science fiction as both a subversion and variation of the genre’s utopianism of the earlier age. Wang Jinkang’s Ant Life (2007), Liu Cixin’s China 2185 (1989), the Three-Body Trilogy (2006-2010), and the short story “The Micro-Era” (1999) are the main texts this paper studies. Their reflections on utopianism speak to the post-1989 changing intellectual culture and political economy. This paper argues that the new wave of Chinese science fiction contains a self-conscious effort to energise the utopian/dystopian variations rather than a simple denial of utopianism or a total embrace of dystopian disillusionment, and this is particularly represented in Liu Cixin’s novels. The paper also provides some preliminary thoughts on the vision of a post-human future depicted in Liu Cixin’s science fiction.
Index terms
Index by keyword :
Liu Cixin, new wave, post-humanity, Science fiction, Three-Body Trilogy., utopia/dystopiaReferences
Bibliographical reference
Mingwei Song, « After 1989: The New Wave of Chinese Science Fiction », China Perspectives, 2015/1 | 2015, 7-13.
Electronic reference
Mingwei Song, « After 1989: The New Wave of Chinese Science Fiction », China Perspectives [Online], 2015/1 | 2015, Online since 01 January 2017, connection on 05 March 2021. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/6618 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.6618
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