(Drivebycuriosity) - In the year 2015 China`s Science Fiction suddenly appeared on the global stage. Cixin Liu`s novel "The Three Body Problem" received the Hugo Award, the Nobel Prize in the Science Fiction World. The novel is the start of his "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy" (my spoiler free review ). But is there Chinese science fiction beyond Liu?
I tried the anthology "Sinopticon 2021: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction" (amazon ). The book collects 13 stories by different authors. The book is a big disappointment. The collection is far away from a celebration, rather a mock of the genre. The kitschy cover (image above) already demonstrates that.
None of the stories comes close to the standard of Liu´s gems (including his novel "Ball Lighting" and the short story collection "To Hold Up the Sky" ). Apparently the writers cater young adults and want to entertain horror & fantasy fans. None of them is comparable to authors like Andy Weir ("The Martian"; "Hail Mary"); Alastair Reynolds & Gregory Benford. And they are light years away from the classics Asimov, Arthur C. Clark & Heinlein.
I don´t believe that such a huge country has no qualitiy science fiction besides master Liu. I guess the disappointing quality of this collection is the fault of the curator Xueting Christine Ni. Apparently Ni has a weak taste and is not really interested in science fiction. China´s science fiction deserves a better representation.
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