Overview

This volume brings together emerging approaches and addresses shifting paradigms in Chinese science fiction studies, offering a window on fan cultures, internet fiction, gender, eco-criticism, post-humanism and biomedical discourse. These studies present a “second wave” of Chinese sf studies, re-evaluating the canon of Chinese sf print and cinematic production, and expand the range of critical approaches to the subject. The structure of the volume is both chronological and theme-focused. These studies also demonstrate that Chinese science fiction represents a significant contribution to modern Chinese cultural production, both in terms of its value, speaking powerfully to our modern condition, and its sheer volume in terms of production and consumption. Chinese science fiction speaks to both China’s rapidly shifting reality, its political multiplicity and its formless future, voicing the anticipations and anxieties of a new epoch filled with accelerating alterations and increasing uncertainty.  

Full Product Details

Author:   Mingwei Song ,  Nathaniel Isaacson ,  Hua Li
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783031535437

ISBN 10:   303153543
Pages:   305
Publication Date:   28 April 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Kang Youwei’s Book of the Heavens and the Porous Epistemological Grounds of Early-modern Chinese Science Fiction.- Chapter 3. Intelligent Humanoid Machines: Imaginations of Physical and Mental Transformation in late Qing Literature and Their Intellectual Origins.- Chapter 4. The King of Electricity from China: Science, Technology, and the Vision of World Order in Late Qing China.- Chapter 5. Formal Fictions: “Chinese” “Science” “Fiction” in Translation.- Chapter 6. The Writing Editors: Late Qing and Republican Media Professionals as Authors of Science Fiction.- Chapter 7.  Projecting Eco-Futures: Cinematic Visions of Utopian Science and Ecology from the Mao Era to the Deng Era.- Chapter 8. Information, the Body, and Humanism in the Chinese Cyber Novel Forty Millennia of Authenticity Cultivation.- Chapter 9. Open Up Your Brain Hole: Spatial Imaginaries in Chinese Online Science Fiction.- Chapter 10. Of Illness and Illusion: The Chaosmology of Han Song’s Hospital Trilogy.- Chapter 11. Liu Cixin and the Cosmic Pastoral.- Chapter 12. Bodies in Transformation: The Politics of Post-80s Science Fiction Authors Chi Hui, Chen Qiufan, and Zhang Ran.- Chapter 13. The Posthuman and the Neo-Baroque in Taiwan Science Fiction 

Reviews

“The volume Chinese Science Fiction: Concepts, Forms, and Histories, edited by Mingwei Song, Nathaniel Isaacson, and Hua Li, offers a vital and timely contribution to the field of Chinese science fiction (SF) research. ... Chinese Science Fiction provides a rich, multi-faceted account of Chinese SF. It moves beyond the focus on recent bestsellers to explore … . It is an invaluable resource for scholars and students interested in Chinese literature, SF studies, and global cultural history.” (Zichuan Gan, Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, Vol. 12 (1), 2025) “This book offers a robust framework for understanding Chinese science fiction within its broader cultural and literary contexts. ... Meticulously researched and thoughtfully crafted, this is an invaluable resource for a diverse range of readers. It serves as an essential textbook and reference for science fiction scholars worldwide, while also supporting educators, students and researchers interested in Chinese literature. Furthermore, it appeals to general readers intrigued by Chinese science fiction and its reflections on Chinese society and culture.” (Yuqin Jiang, The China Quarterly, April 21, 2025)

“This book offers a robust framework for understanding Chinese science fiction within its broader cultural and literary contexts. ... Meticulously researched and thoughtfully crafted, this is an invaluable resource for a diverse range of readers. It serves as an essential textbook and reference for science fiction scholars worldwide, while also supporting educators, students and researchers interested in Chinese literature. Furthermore, it appeals to general readers intrigued by Chinese science fiction and its reflections on Chinese society and culture.” (Yuqin Jiang, The China Quarterly, April 21, 2025)

Author Information

Mingwei Song is Professor of Modern Chinese Literature at Wellesley College. He is the author of numerous books and research articles, including Young China: National Rejuvenation and the Bildungsroman, 1900–1959 (2015), New Wave in Chinese Science Fiction: History, Poetics, Texts (2020; in Chinese) and Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction (2023). He is the co-editor of The Reincarnated Giant: An Anthology of Twenty-First Century Chinese Science Fiction (2018).  Nathaniel Isaacson is Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Literature in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at North Carolina State University. His book, Celestial Empire: the Emergence of Chinese Science Fiction (2017), examines the emergence of science fiction in late Qing China and the relationship between science fiction and Orientalism.  Hua Li is Professor of Chinese in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Montana State University. She has published two monographs: Contemporary Chinese Fiction by Su Tong and Yu Hua: Coming of Age in Troubled Times (2011) and Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw (2021).

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