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The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

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Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#81

Post by preommr »

forkLding wrote: post #36
qlk1123 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough statement, but it looks more like a direct translation from Chinese sentences to me. > "No Harry Potter local as no magic, ..." We don't publish localized Harry Potter (don't they? I am not sure) because magic fantasy is abandoned. > "... no god, no fiary after 1948." Why 1948? The year is not that meaningful for modern Hong Kong people, but it is a important year for China and Taiwan. At 1948, KMT was de…

The first sentence is probably parsed wrong, Chinese fairy/mythological novels are very popular in China, they've surpassed Chinese martial arts novels which has broken my heart because the fairy/mythological novels suck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia_novel Note 仙 can mean fairy in Chinese, they are part of the Chinese category known as 仙侠 or 玄幻，which is Asian/Chinese themed fantasy that differs from Western…

Xinxia has some really high highs, and some really low lows. There are epic moments that make your blood pound mixed with endless repetition of things like mc meeting paper thin arrogant masters that are there only for some satisfying face-slapping scene.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#83

Post by tlb »

samatman wrote: post #48
yumraj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such as? Edit: especially curious about which topics folks think might be considered taboos in Western science fiction.

Can you think of a Western science fiction novel that portrays eugenics in a positive light? Sterling’s Shapers come to mind, but it’s not common.

Neal Stephenson's _Seven Eves_ ends up with several distinct branches of humanity. It was a necessary adaptation to a population bottleneck -- after a global apocalypse there were only 7 living women and no men or sperm, but they did have a genetics lab. So they cloned themselves with some small changes to avoid inbreeding. Some of the changes weren't so small.

Some of the populations did well, some were strange, and some were constantly warring. So not quite "positive", but not gratuitously negative either.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#84

Post by tanilama »

Chinese book market, or fiction market has now almost fully embraced digital self-publishing. Magazine are now almost dead, books are just physical copies of their online version.

Sad but true, the one most important Chinese SF magazine, the SF World, where all the mentioned authors started their career, has been hanging on the edge and gradually becoming irrelevant for some time now.

The new generation of readers has put their vote on longer, daily updated, fast paced Wuxia(Martial Arts)/Xianxia(Martial Arts with Fantasy element) series, which focuses entirely on pleasing the readership with favorable characters/troupes.

With a strangling market, I wouldn't say the Chinese science fiction's future is a bright one.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#85

Post by Latteland »

johnnyb3 wrote: post #24
the_duke wrote: post #6

As far as I know the Chinese book market is heavily censored. I'd be curious about how this affects Chinese authors, and if and how they have to limit the topics and the creativity of their writing due to this.

I read Liu Cixin's trilogy cover to cover about a year ago. Many references to Western thought including the Bible, social topics, and a surprising (for me) amount of diversity injected into the plot line. Grand and sweeping, it's great Sci Fi literature. It's hard to imagine that it is the result of any significant censorship. I found it a fascinating glimpse into the modern Chinese way of thinking.

But it wasn't written today. Can someone point to such a free and exploratory book is written in China today? I hope writers there will again have the freedom of the three body rule.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#86

Post by friendlybus »

mercutio2 wrote: post #41
Jerry2 wrote: post #34

Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy are the greatest sci-fi books I've ever read. I still remember when I picked the first volume and than patiently waited for a very long time for translations of the next books to arrive. The wait was well worth it. He manages to put his characters into seemingly insurmountable situations and it feels like he won't be able to write his way out of them but somehow he ma…

Wow. I couldn’t stand the first book of this series. Interminable, I never built any empathy for any of the characters. I’ve been told it gets better after the first book, but why would I subject myself to another book after my experience of the first? Anyway, to each their own, but as a huge sci-fi fan, I generally love the Hugo winners and nominees. The Chinese sci-fi that’s been nominated has all left me cold.

>I never built any empathy for any of the characters.

I have a guess that's why the Warcraft movie did so well in China. The characters are so thin, and life is cheap in that film.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#87

Post by jorgesborges »

Jerry2 wrote: post #34

Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy are the greatest sci-fi books I've ever read. I still remember when I picked the first volume and than patiently waited for a very long time for translations of the next books to arrive. The wait was well worth it. He manages to put his characters into seemingly insurmountable situations and it feels like he won't be able to write his way out of them but somehow he ma…

I accidentally read the third book in the trilogy first. I didn't notice until I finished it and looked for the second one. I was in camping mode on a kindle with a pirated copy. But I still remember the first chapter of that book, about buying the star, it was so beautiful I almost cried. I stayed awake all night reading. And I remember slowly learning about the Trisolarans and about the history of the wallfacers, and the centuries of conflict between earth and this other civilization. I thought it was just hard sci-fi and I loved it. I later picked up the first and second. They were great but never came close to how special my experience was of reading the third, and I'm even thankful for having read it first.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#88

Post by beambot »

zone411 wrote: post #67
demilicious wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. The science was pretty good, for a pop audience, but there was zero character development - beyond Luo Ji, zero characters develop in the _entire series_. I don't want to spoil anything, of course, but you can pretty much decide the rest of the series based on what I've already written. Extremely disappointing.

If your tastes require solid character development then sure. But other people might enjoy a book more for its plot or ideas. There are books (especially in science fiction), movies, and TV shows that are widely recognized as very good without a lot of character development.

To be "best of all time", it definitely needs all three: ideas, plot, & characters.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#89

Post by echevil »

ngcc_hk wrote: post #10

No Harry Potter local as no magic, no god, no fiary after 1948. Too violent no ... It is not just the rule. It is the arbitrary rule suddenly comes up. Any funny bear like honey

The closest to of Harry Potter in China are probably either Wuxia or Xianxia, in which the equivalent of "god", "magic" and "violence" are actually very common.

Harry Potter is somewhat popular in China as well, though way less than it is in western countries. "Harry Potter" style stories (and Lord of Rings, etc.) are simply too "foreign" to a lot of Chinese, and that has very little to do with the government.

Re: The Rise and Rise of Chinese Science Fiction

#90

Post by spullara »

Jerry2 wrote: post #34

Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past' trilogy are the greatest sci-fi books I've ever read. I still remember when I picked the first volume and than patiently waited for a very long time for translations of the next books to arrive. The wait was well worth it. He manages to put his characters into seemingly insurmountable situations and it feels like he won't be able to write his way out of them but somehow he ma…

Honestly the trilogy isn't that great as literature. It feels like an amalgam of all the cool ideas the author ever had forced into a narrative. The individual ideas are really interesting and cool but there is little to no character development and the plot can be silly at times. I don't think it is the worst science fiction I have read but to me it doesn't hold together as a story.
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