The Global Reach of Chinese Science Fiction in the Digital Era
I had the pleasure of being invited, along with three other wonderful guests, to be part of the Chinese Science Fiction in The Digital Age series of talks and forums held by the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. It was well received, with many enthusiastic questions from the students. And I have translated my short talk into English for Anglophone readers who are interested in the topic.
Posted in Events and tagged china, Chinese, digital, digital age, fiction, global, panel, publishing, Sci-Fi, science fiction, SF, talk
The Tang Dynasty Mystery
A type of Cdrama and film that has been very popular over the last decade, is the Tang Dynasty mystery, tales of detection, court intrigue and crime solving adapted from novels by well-known writers of the 21st century, yet set in ancient China. One reason for the current focus on Tang Dynasty culture, is that China is once again at an economic and cultural peak, recalling its greatest gold age in history. One key figure that immortalised this perfect combination of the Tang setting and tale of mystery, is Di Renjie.
Posted in Articles and tagged china, Chinese, crime fiction, culture, detective fiction, Di Renjie, fiction, film, Gong An, Judge Dee, novels, Robert Van Gulik
Guan Hanqing and A Dream of Splendour
Cdrama now enjoys a global following, and one of the most popular shows at the moment is Tencent’s A Dream of Splendour (directed by Liu Yang and staring Liu Yifei, Chen Xiao, Liu Yan and Lin Yun), a historical fiction series set in dynastic China. Unlike a lot of other cdrama which are based on contemporary novels, this series has been inspired by a 13th century opera of Guan Hanqing, one Yuan Dynasty’s best-loved playwright, 赵盼儿风月救风尘 (zhào pàn’ér fēngyuè jiù fēngchén), Zhao Pan’Er Courageously Saves A Lady of the Night. Instead of outlaws, notables and royalty, the frequent subjects of a lot of other historical fiction, it tells the tale of three ordinary women surviving the hardships of life through their resourcefulness and friendship, eventually turning a small teahouse into a very successful restaurant.
Posted in Articles and tagged A Dream of Splendour, Cdrama, china, Chinese, culture, fiction, literature, opera, plays, playwright, Yuan Dynasty
Ni Kuang: An Orbituary
On July the 3rd 2022, renowned writer Ni Kuang, passed away, aged 87. He was one of the most popular modern classic Sinophone writers.
Posted in Articles, Events and tagged books, Chinese, culture, fiction, Ni Kuang, novel, orbituary, science fiction, Sinophone, Wisely, writer, writing, Wuxia
Net Novels and the She Era: How Internet Novels Opened the Door for Readers and Writers in China
It’s International Women’s Day and also the publication day of Tordotcom’s The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation (ed. Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang). As a collection that spotlights contemporary SFF by women and non-binary writers, I thought it would be appropriate to contribute an essay on the story of the amazing growth and diversification of China’s female web literature output.
Posted in Books and tagged books, china, Chinese, culture, fiction, literature, novels, online literature, publishing, SFF, web novels
The Pandemic and SFF: Thoughts on the Eastercon21 Panel
Despite Covid restrictions, I returned this year to convention life, at least virtually, as a guest at EasterCon, and in an event driven to digital by a global pandemic, it couldn’t have been more appropriate to talk about how all this has affected science fiction and fantasy works. The hour-long panel featured myself, along with the editor and authors of New Con Press. There was a lot to talk about in the one-hour slot, and with so many of us having lived near hermit like existences for the last few months, personal take-aways from lockdown becoming a central topic for some of the more loquacious guests, and there were so many points that were left unexplored.
Posted in Events and tagged china, Chinese, culture, fiction, literature, outbreak, pandemic, science fiction, SF in Translation, SFF, society, translated, virus
Half the Galaxy: Female Writers of Chinese Science Fiction
Through a year of quarantines and lockdowns throughout the world, many women are finding that hard won progress in their emancipation has somewhat diminished. Their roles regressed to the main caregiver, or manager of the house, regardless of their other responsibilities. On this year’s International Women’s Day, it’s important to remember the capabilities and achievements women have pushed forward with, both in spite of gender stereotypes and male bias, and in light of freedoms won. I have recently researched China’s net novelists, and was amazed at the creative output of women who were writing whilst also holding down full time jobs, and labouring under the yoke of domestic responsibility. Science fiction is another realm still primarily considered to be the domain of men, where women’s contribution is often overlooked, especially in China.
Posted in Articles and tagged authorship, books, china, Chinese, equality, feminism, fiction, International Women's Day, literature, science fiction, women, writing
Ye Yonglie: An Obituary
On the 15thof May 2020, one of the forefathers of Chinese science fiction, Ye Yonglie, passed away.
Born in 1940 in Wenzhou (Zhejiang), Ye was a literary prodigy who published his first work at the age of 11, and his first book at the age of 19. After graduating in chemistry from Peking University, he continued his love of writing, and went on to create a wide range of short stories, journals and longer fictional works.
Posted in Events and tagged children's fiction, china, Chinese, culture, fiction, novel, orbituary, science fiction, SFF, Ye Yonglie