Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw

Hua Li

Published by University of Toronto Press 2021

Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw

Hua Li

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487537807

Overview
Contents

About this book

This is the first book in English to focus on the transitional period of Chinese science fiction – a key prelude to the increasingly global stature of Chinese science fiction in the twenty-first century.

Author / Editor information

Li Hua :

Hua Li is an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at Montana State University.

Reviews

Veronica Hollinger, Co-editor of Science Fiction Studies:

"After the Cultural Revolution, science fiction and its offshoots enjoyed an astonishing but short-lived resurgence in the People’s Republic of China as both a popular genre and an instrument of the nation-state. Hua Li’s groundbreaking study is an elegantly organized and critically astute cultural history of this moment, demonstrating how it laid the foundations for the twenty-first-century New Wave of Chinese science fiction that has captured the global imagination."

Wu Yan, Professor of Chinese Science Fiction Studies, Southern University of Science and Technology:

"Hua Li has filled a lacuna in book-length English-language studies of a turning point in the historical development of Chinese science fiction. By probing representative works of several key science fiction writers and multimedia artists who achieved prominence around 1980, this book reveals that many of the characteristics associated with present-day Chinese science fiction actually appeared in as early as the post-Mao thaw era."

Nathaniel Isaacson, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Cultural Studies, North Carolina State University:

"In Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw, Hua Li reminds us of the wonders of Chinese science fiction beyond the confines of the ‘boom’ years, tracing the rise and fall of Chinese science fiction production and consumption in the interregnal period between the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 and the 1983 campaign to eliminate ‘spiritual pollution.’"

Mingwei Song, Associate Professor of Chinese, Wellesley College:

"Before Chinese science fiction gained international recognition in the twenty-first century, the genre had first flourished splendidly during the post-Mao thaw. No other scholar has offered such a powerful and sober reflection on this old golden age of Chinese science fiction as Hua Li has in this masterful study of the genre’s history. It is a must-read for anyone interested in modern China and its science fiction culture!"

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
CHINESE SCIENCE FICTION DURING THE POST-MAO CULTURAL THAW
1 The Field of Chinese Science Fiction, 1976–1983 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 A Study of Zheng Wenguang’s Mars Series Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3 A Scientific Holmes in Post-Mao China: Ye Yonglie and His SF Thrillers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
4 Tong Enzheng and the Motif of Alien Invasions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
5 Posthuman Conditions in Xiao Jianheng’s SF Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
6 Tech-SF and the Four Modernizations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
7 Fledgling Media Convergence: PRC SF from Print to Electronic Media Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
8 Blooming, Contending, and Boundary-Breaking Even in a Genre of Government-Backed Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Chinese Character Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 248
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 16
- Other: 16 b&w illustrations
Keywords: science fiction; Chinese literature; Post-Mao cultural thaw; science popularization; Ye Yonglie; Tong Enzheng; Zheng Wenguang; Xiao Jianheng; Liu Cixin; multi-media narrative; fantasy; sci-fi; genre fiction

eBook

Published: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781487537807