{"id":58411,"date":"2024-02-22T12:55:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T04:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/?p=58411"},"modified":"2024-02-22T13:41:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T05:41:32","slug":"when-science-fiction-meets-political-fact%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2024\/02\/22\/when-science-fiction-meets-political-fact%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"When Science Fiction Meets Political Fact\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the surprise of no one who understands the Chinese leadership\u2019s obsessive control of ideas, news broke last week that a prestigious international book award was subject to censorship when held in China last October. File 770, a science fiction blog, revealed in a special report<\/a> how the selection panel of the Hugo Awards in Chengdu had obeyed local laws and regulations, vetting the eligibility of finalists<\/a> based on their stance on sensitive political issues. The blog also found evidence that Sichuan\u2019s propaganda bureau had conducted \u201cstrict checks\u201d on works<\/a> at the convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those paying closer attention, the red flags had flown at least six months before the awards were held, as rules published<\/a> by Chengdu WorldCon said content considered for awards would only include works and individuals \u201cthat comply with local laws and regulations.\u201d In China, local laws and regulations always abide by the political discipline of the Chinese Communist Party. Foreseeing trouble did not require a vivid imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In media coverage outside China, the most obvious focus has been those writers excluded by Chengdu\u2019s skewed process \u2014 including the likes of R.F. Kuang, Neil Gaiman, and Paul Weimer. But what about those writers who were boosted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaudits and Put-Downs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The winner of 2023\u2019s Best Novella category was the hitherto unknown Chinese author Hai Ya (\u6d77\u6f04), whose quick read, The Space-Time Painter<\/a><\/em> (\u6642\u7a7a\u756b\u5e2b), revolves around a tough-as-nails cop who investigates spooky reports of a ghost in Beijing\u2019s Palace Museum, known worldwide as the Forbidden City. The cop traces the spectral source to a real-life treasure of the museum \u2014 an ancient scroll painting by Song dynasty artist Wang Ximeng (\u738b\u5e0c\u5b5f), whose ghost is trying to make contact with contemporary China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
Author and Hugo Laureate Hai Ya holds up his novella in October 2023. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hai Ya has said<\/a> openly that the story came to him after watching a documentary series<\/a> on China\u2019s national treasures produced by the China Media Group, the media conglomerate directly under the CCP\u2019s Central Propaganda Department \u2014 a touch of background that has delighted state-run English-language media and prompted a wave of favorable coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author\u2019s novella has not fared well, however, on Chinese rating sites, where readers have sometimes been scathing with their remarks. On WeRead (\u5fae\u4fe1\u8b80\u66f8), Tencent\u2019s book-reading app, The Space-Time Painter<\/em> scores a poor 16.4 percent. Meanwhile, on the film and publishing networking service Douban<\/a>, the novella earns a lackluster 5.5 out of 10. Readers point to clunky writing and clich\u00e9d plot points, expressing disbelief that the work is a prize-winner. \u201cCould it be that the award was forcibly given because the home turf is in China,\u201d one user posted<\/a>. \u201cWith so many better works than this one, how did they pick something so unappealing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a commentary on the video site Bilibili<\/a>, one online influencer said Hai Ya\u2019s novella had the quality of a decent topical essay by a high school student. The work was not meant to satisfy Chinese readers, he said, but \u201cto swipe an award from the English-speaking world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is no evidence that The Space-Time Painter<\/em> was nudged by event hosts in Chengdu, this possibility cannot be ruled out. As the File 770 report points out, there was a lot of money riding on publishing and distribution deals being negotiated by Chinese publishing companies at the event. The prestigious international award would certainly drive a boost in sales, and drum up interest in the film rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A Chinese influencer on Bilibili pans Hai Ya’s novella as “unappealing,” and likens it to the work of a high school student. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As The Space-Time Painter<\/em> is so far available only in Chinese, votes in its favor at the 2023 WorldCon would have come exclusively from Chinese members. Moreover, the novella\u2019s path was substantially cleared by the exclusion early on of politically sensitive works. As one Chinese sci-fi reader who attended the conference has pointed out<\/a>, membership in WorldCon was prohibitively expensive for many, and the voting process was abnormally opaque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prize-Winning Themes for the Party<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is also impossible to ignore the fact that the storyline of The Space-Time Painter<\/em>, with its reference to the now politically popular theme of China\u2019s deep cultural roots, would have endeared it to friends in high places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since the Republican era in China, science fiction has been treated as a vehicle for public education, and this tradition has continued since the early decades under CCP rule. Writers like Zheng Wenguang<\/a> (\u912d\u6587\u5149), who published the PRC’s first sci-fi novel, Flyto Centaurus<\/em>, at the outset of the reform era in 1979, helped popularize science<\/a> through works woven with patriotic purpose, giving young people a vision of what fantastic things a \u201cmodern\u201d China could achieve under socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hai Ya\u2019s win may have been given additional impetus by the more recent intersection of political and cultural priorities in China. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Party continues to take an interest in promoting the genre. In 2020, the China Film Administration published a list of measures<\/a> to bolster Chinese sci-fi films, including tax relief, and preferential loans to promote studios, talent, and innovative scripts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hai Ya\u2019s win may have been given additional impetus by the more recent intersection of political and cultural priorities in China. The newcomer\u2019s tale of communication between a present-day cop and a prized Song dynasty painter echoes a speech Xi Jinping delivered to a study session of the Central Committee back in 2014, in which he urged<\/a> cadres to adapt traditional Chinese culture to modern society and sensibilities. This way, said Xi, the Party could \u201cbring the cultural relics located in the Forbidden City to life,\u201d and create a new culture \u201ctranscending time and space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cspace-time painter\u201d indeed. Seen in this light, the novella is a near-perfect reference to the political framing of culture that only in early October 2023<\/a>, less than two weeks before the Hugo Awards Ceremony in Chengdu, was presented through a grand new buzzword that was splashed across the Party\u2019s flagship People\u2019s Daily<\/em> newspaper: \u201cXi Jinping Thought on Culture<\/a>\u201d (\u7fd2\u8fd1\u5e73\u6587\u5316\u601d\u60f3). This followed a major conference<\/a> on propaganda and ideology at which Xi urged officials at all levels, including a visiting delegation from Sichuan, that they should promote the \u201cinnovative development of China\u2019s excellent traditional culture,\u201d and thereby \u201cimprove the country\u2019s cultural soft power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes science fiction can become political fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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