Broken Stars

by Ken Liu

  BIRTH OF EARLY CHINESE FANDOM

  The first Chinese SF fan group appeared in Shanghai in 1980. Philip Smith from the University of Pittsburgh visited Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) and delivered a course on science fiction literature. A scholar who worked at SISU at the time, Wu Dingbo (吴定柏) regards the science fiction club formed there as the first Chinese SF fan group. In 1981, Science Fiction Research Associations were founded in several cities like Shanghai, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Ha’erbin, Liaoning, and Chengdu, and then all were swept away by the anti-spiritual-pollution campaigns. And it wasn’t until 1988 that the Science Fiction Literature Committee was founded in Sichuan Writer’s Association, chaired by Tong Enzheng. The committee aimed to unite science fiction writers in Sichuan and make Chinese SF writing prosper from its nadir.

  In 1990, Yao Haijun (姚海军) established the Chinese Science Fiction Readers’ Association with the help of his fanzine Nebula.

  In the 1990s, regional fan groups and university clubs boomed all around China. The Science Fiction World magazine also founded its own fan club.

  In 1998, the first online SF fan groups appeared in China. Chinese Science Fiction Online Association (中华网上科幻协会) and Feiteng Science Fiction Writing Group (飞腾科幻创作小组) were established. The latter one was renamed Feiteng SF Corps (飞腾科幻军团) after it expanded. Some of the other important online fan groups were SF Utopia (科幻桃花源), River of No Return (大江东去科幻社区), and Space Lunatic Asylum (太空疯人院). Unfortunately none of them exist today. Some of the active members continued their discussion in the Science Fiction World group (with no relation to the magazine) on douban.com (a social networking website popular in China based on hobbies).

  Quite a number of Chinese SF authors were active members of these fan groups.

  4.

  FANZINES

  China’s first fanzine was Nebula («星云»), edited by Yao Haijun from 1989 to 2007. During these years, forty issues were published. Yao Haijun was a worker in a logging factory in Heilongjiang when he started the fanzine. Now he is the editor in chief of Science Fiction World magazine. Nebula played an extremely important role in the development of modern Chinese fandom, and even in the history of Chinese science fiction at large. It was the bridge between editors, writers, researchers, and readers. The peak circulation was more than 1,200 copies per issue.

  Some of the other fanzines prevalent in the 1990s were Galaxy («银河»), edited by Fan Lin (范霖) in Zhengzhou; Up to the Ladder toward the Sky («上天梯»), edited by Xu Jiulong (徐久隆) in Chengdu; Planet 10 («第十号行星») and TNT, edited by Wang Lunan (王鲁南) in Shandong; and Universe Wind («宇宙风»), edited by Zeng Deqiang and Zhou Yukun (曾德强、周宇坤). There were also letterzines, such as Nebula, sent to subscribers all around the country. However, most of these only survived a couple of years due to lack of money and time.

  Regional SF fan groups also published their fanzines. Cubic Light Year （«立方光年»） in Beijing and Supernova («超新星») in Tianjin were two of the key representatives. Receiving the support of many SF writers, Cubic Light Year was of quite high quality. However, both zines only published a few issues because it was hard for the editors and writers to keep running the projects on a voluntary basis.

  University SF clubs also publish their fanzines, but these too have a short lifespan. One exception to the rule is Critical Point («临界点») published by Sichuan University Science Fiction Association, which published its special twentieth-anniversary issue in 2013.

  With the dawn of the Internet era, numerous netzines appeared. Chinese Science Fiction Online Association published Sky and Fire («苍穹火焰») in 1998 and 1999, with a total of seven issues, and River of No Return published Edge Review («边缘») in 2005 and 2006, with a total of four issues. New Realms of Fantasy and Science Fiction («新幻界») published thirty-two issues from 2009 to 2013, which seems like a miracle, since all the issues are of very high quality and could be downloaded online for free. They even published two printed anthologies. Some of the stories published on New Realms of Fantasy and Science Fiction have since been translated into English, such as “Invisible Planets” («看不见的星球», 2010), by Hao Jingfang.

  Some of the other netzines that are still active today in China are Chinese New Science Fiction («中国新科幻») and Science Fiction Collects («科幻文汇»). Hopefully, they can live long and prosper.

  5.

  AWARDS AND MAJOR EVENTS

  The Galaxy Award (银河奖) is the highest honor an author can achieve in the Chinese science fiction field, and for a long time, it was the only one. The Galaxy Award was first established in 1986 by two magazines, Science Fiction World (previously Scientific and Literary) and Wisdom Tree («智慧树»). After Wisdom Tree ceased publication, Science Fiction World became the only organizer of the Galaxy. The Galaxy is only awarded to works published in or by Science Fiction World, with readers voting for their favorites. However, the Best Short Story of 2016 Galaxy Award was awarded to “Balin” by Chen Qiufan, which was published in People’s Literature, making the first exception.

  An award open to all SF works published in the Chinese language thus became necessary. The Chinese Nebula Award (全球华语科幻星云奖) was established in 2010, organized by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association. All members of the association can nominate their favorites and vote for them; the vote is also extended to the public. The final winner is selected by a panel of judges from five shortlisted works or candidates.

  The major annual SF events in China take place around these two awards. Usually, there are con-like carnivals for fans. They do not follow specific rules, but usually involve award ceremonies, red-carpet walks, late night roadside barbecues, and drinking. Science Fiction World also hosts a seminar on writing after the Galaxy Award Ceremony every year, while World Chinese Science Fiction Association events have started to look like international cons. Cat Rambo, president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; Taiyo Fuji, president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan; and Crystal Huff, cochair of Worldcon 75, were invited as guests for the 2016 Chinese Nebula Award Weekend.

  Thanks to the prosperity of Chinese science fiction in recent years, new awards keep appearing. For example, The Morning Star & Jinkang Award was established in 2015 by Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation; The Coordinates Award was established in 2015 by several hard-core fans; and Union Writing Competition was established in 2012 by a group of fans in Sichuan University and renamed as Masters of the Future Award in 2016 by the same crew, who started their own company to build both an online hub and an offline space for science fiction fans.

  In the history of Chinese science fiction, three international conventions were held in China: the annual conference of World SF in 1991, the 1997 Beijing International Conference on Science Fiction, and the 2007 International SF&F Convention. Yang Xiao, the president of Science Fiction World at the time, attended the annual conference of World SF in 1989 in San Marino and won the hosting right for Chengdu, China, in 1991. Yang was not fluent in English, and neither had she attended international professional conferences before. There were both domestic and foreign obstacles, but Yang and her team fought hard to conquer both. The conference was largely supported by the government and turned out to be a great success.

  The ’97 Beijing International Conference on Science Fiction was also organized by Science Fiction World and supported by the China Association for Science and Technology. It played an important role in promoting science fiction culture in China. One of the results of the conference was the rocketing of sales of Science Fiction World.

  The 2007 International SF&F Convention was organized by Science Fiction World in Chengdu just before Nippon 2007, designed to promote science fiction culture. That year, European and American writers visited China before heading over to Worldcon in Japan.

  6.

  CONTEMPORARY CHINE
SE SF FANDOM

  There is a bus theory describing Chinese SF fans. The fans’ love toward science fiction is just like taking a bus. When they are young, they get on the bus and start to read science fiction. When they grow older (and reach their destination), they stop to read it and get off the bus. It is true that the majority of the readers of Science Fiction World are middle school, high school, and university students. In comparison, adult fans read more foreign SF works, either in English or in Chinese translation.

  Active SF fans do exist, but despite this, no regular national “cons” have been established. University SF clubs prosper and decline. Regional fan groups appear and disappear. Chinese fandom is quite dispersed, and it is hard to find a particular fan group in China with a “long” history.

  However, two fan groups in China with a relatively long history function well to this day.

  The first one is SF AppleCore. In 2009, SF clubs in four universities in Shanghai decided to collaborate and organize a big event. During the preparation of Shanghai Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival (SSFFF), AppleCore was founded as the association of university SF clubs in Shanghai. SSFFF was held in 2009 and annually from 2011 till now. It is based in universities, and most of the organizers and attendants are university students. During the weekends of a certain month, usually May, various events like debates, panels, lectures, and LARPs (live action role-playing games) are held in member universities, organized by university SF clubs. A single event can attract 30 to 200 attendants, depending on the guests and contents.

  AppleCore has grown to be more than an association of university SF clubs. In October 2013, AppleCore started monthly meetings targeting alum fans. Usually, during these gatherings, there are movie screenings and themed lectures, panels or short talks in the afternoon and dinner in the evening. The topics explored range from science to fantasy, and from art to astronomy. Some examples include: a screening of the movie A Scanner Darkly would be followed by a lecture on Philip K. Dick; talks on depression and autism; a visit to the contemporary art exhibition “Heman Chong: Ifs, Ands, or Buts”; and a steampunk accessories DIY workshop. On average, 30 to 120 members show up for the afternoon activities, and 5 to 20 stay for dinner.

  In November 2014, the AppleCore Reading Group was formed. Fans are encouraged to read a specific book every month and meet to discuss it. The very first discussion was on The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was discussed in December 2015. A special discussion on Chinese Nebula nominees was organized in September 2015, with a focus on Chi Hui’s Artificial Human 2075: Awareness Restructuring («伪人2075 ：意识重组», 2014). The aim is for the reading group to start with a limited circle of members and gradually expand to a larger scale.

  The AppleCore Writing Workshop was also established in 2015 as a trial and put into official operation in 2016. Small groups of writers meet monthly and discuss each other’s works.

  AppleCore is not only the largest SF fan group in eastern China, but is perhaps also the one with the most international contacts. In its seventh year, it won the Gold Xingyun Award for Best Fandom in 2016.

  The other organization is the World Chinese Science Fiction Association (WCSFA), our largest fan group, established in 2010 in Chengdu and registered in Hong Kong. AppleCore is more fan-driven and works as the regional fan hub in Shanghai, while WCSFA is an official organization and works as the national fan hub in China.

  The World Chinese Science Fiction Association has around 300 members, and most of them are “professionals”: writers, translators, editors, researchers, etc. WCSFA has been organizing the Chinese Nebula Award every year since 2010. With the aim of nurturing Chinese SF, the organizing committee works hard to improve it year by year. The award ceremonies have been held in Chengdu, Taiyuan, and Beijing, and it is expected future ceremonies will travel to more cities.

  What should also be mentioned here is that Beijing tried out the first Worldcon bid in China in 2014. Though we lost to Kansas City in the end, it was a good beginning, and we can now expect a large group of Chinese representatives at future Worldcons.

  7.

  CURRENT CHINESE SF IN LITERATURE AND ACADEMIA

  Liu Cixin (刘慈欣) is the biggest name in contemporary Chinese SF thanks to his grand universe-spanning imagination. His “Three- Body” trilogy («三体»三部曲) is extremely popular and is due to be adapted into a six-part movie series. The English translation of the first book was published in November 2014—the first contemporary Chinese SF novel translated into English—and won a Hugo. The next two books were published in English in 2015 and 2016 respectively.26

  Wang Jinkang (王晋康), who spent his twentieth year of writing SF in 2014, is another heavyweight in Chinese SF. His stories are deeply rooted in the tradition of realism and usually with a focus on biology. Some of his representative works include the short story “Adam’s Regression” («亚当回归», 1993) and the novel A Song for Life («生命之歌», 1998).

  Han Song (韩松), who works for Xinhua News Agency, is known to have said that the news pieces he writes during the daytime are more science fictional than the science fiction stories he writes at night. His stories, influenced by Kafka, are unusual and surreal, and his pioneering writing style garners him special attention. Some of his representative works are the short story “Gravestone of the Universe” («宇宙墓碑», 1991) and the novel Red Ocean («红色海洋», 2004).

  He Xi (何夕)’s stories are effective at exploring emotions and feelings, which really touch the reader. “The Sad One” («伤心者», 2003) is his most famous short story, about a lonely mathematician figuring out a theory that cannot be understood by his era, and a mother always having faith in her son. He Xi published his first novel, The Doomsyear («天年»), in 2015.

  Arguably, these are the “Big Four” of Chinese SF today.

  Younger writers like Chen Qiufan (陈楸帆), who leads science fiction realism; Fei Dao (飞氘), who applies skills and concepts from literary fiction to his SF writing; Baoshu (宝树), who is good at telling interesting stories with a focus on philosophy; Zhang Ran (张冉), who benefits a lot from his earlier experience as a journalist; Jiang Bo (江波), who has deft control of large scenes; and A Que (阿缺), who is a master of storytelling born in the 1990s—they are all from the most well-educated group in China.

  The writers described in this section so far are male, but there are also quite a few prestigious female writers in China: Zhao Haihong (赵海虹), Ling Chen (凌晨), Chi Hui (迟卉), Xia Jia (夏笳), Hao Jingfang (郝景芳), Chen Qian (陈茜), and Tang Fei (糖匪). They approach the genre with their unique perspectives. Zhao Haihong’s stories feature an emphasis on emotion and romantic atmosphere; Ling Chen takes good control of hard SF elements; Chi Hui is very prolific, making it hard to conclude her style; Xia Jia is good at creating fantastic scenes and dreamy atmospheres, and recently has started to focus on near-future scenes in China; Hao Jingfang regards her own writing as “nongenre,” as she cares about what happens in real space but sets her stories in imaginary space; Chen Qian’s stories have simple language but hard SF cores; and Tang Fei’s writing, which carries characteristics of the New Wave, is regarded as “nontypical SF” by herself. Among them, Xia Jia is probably the most well-known writer, and after her Hugo win, Hao Jingfang is also receiving a lot of attention.

  In terms of academia, there are a group of Chinese SF researchers led by Professor Wu Yan (吴岩) from Beijing Normal University. There has been a master’s program focusing on science fiction in Beijing Normal University for years, and the first Ph.D. student in the same major was recruited in September 2015. Before the specialized Ph.D. program in science fiction was established, young researchers and writers like Xia Jia and Fei Dao tended to combine their interest in science fiction within the field of comparative literature. Many of them share research interests in late Qing Dynasty SF in China, while others are more interested in modern and contemporary Chinese SF. And it’s fas
cinating to see these researchers explore the works of their contemporaries and friends.

  8.

  CHINESE SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

  Science fiction IPs (intellectual properties) are extremely hot in China these days. Liu Cixin sold the film rights of the “Three-Body” trilogy long before the upsurge, making it one of the earliest Chinese science fiction “big” movies to be adapted from literature. The movie has not been released as of this writing (early 2018), but a stage adaptation has been received enthusiastically in Shanghai and Beijing. The first Nebula Award for Global Chinese Science Fiction Films, also organized and awarded by WCSFA, was just awarded in August 2016. The Best SF Movie award went to CJ 7 («长江七号», 2008), directed by Stephen Chow; and Lu Chuan won Best Director for his Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe («九层妖塔», 2015).

  There are dozens of projects in development, and we can certainly expect to see more Chinese science fiction movies in the coming years.

  CONCLUSION

  Chinese SF is winning more attention on the international stage than ever before. The Hugo-winning magazine Clarkesworld started a Chinese SF translation project in 2015 in partnership with Storycom, a Chinese company dedicated to turning science fiction stories into movies/comic/games. Clarkesworld has been publishing one Chinese SF short story in translation each month since.

  Led by Li Zhaoxin, a senior SF fan and critic, SF Comet, an international SF short story writing competition, runs monthly. Chinese and foreign writers compete by writing a short story to a certain theme within a limited time frame. The stories are published in both Chinese and English. Both Chinese and foreign fans can vote for the anonymized stories and choose their favorite. Currently, the competition is on hiatus and we hope it will continue soon.