The international promotion of China's rising stars in science fiction took center stage at the PAGEONE bookstore in Beijing on the evening of March 26.
Titled "Emerging Chinese Science Fiction Writers: An International Outlook", the bilingual event brought together a diverse cohort of over 120 publishers, authors, translators, and scholars from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain, South Korea, South Africa, and Chile. The participants gathered both online and offline to explore the unique appeal of Chinese youth science fiction.
In a video address, Liu Cixin, the celebrated author of The Three-Body Problem, noted that science fiction has been closely connected with youth since its very inception. Today humanity has reached a profound historical crossroads —"the future has already arrived, yet history has never truly left; As machines grow evermore intelligent, humans are becoming increasingly perplexed." Against this backdrop, where reflections on civilization, technology, and human nature have become part of everyday discourse, young Chinese science fiction writers are bringing vitality to the genre, offering distinctive perspectives from Eastern civilization on these global issues.
Among the featured speakers, Chen Qiufan introduced his recent works Ocean Break and Yingge Feiteng (in pinyin). He said that truly vital writing can only emerge from areas that AI cannot replace or generate: human memory, fear, cultural roots, and our anger and tenderness towards the world.
