Resonance From the Past to the Future:Mythological Metaphors in Chinese Science Fiction Films

This paper is centered on the extent to which contemporary Chinese science fiction is related to ancient Chinese mythologies according to the previous scholarly discussion and how these ancient mythologies are utilized specifically in the futuristic narratives of modern Chinese science fiction.By referring to academic dialogues,this paper argues that ancient mythologies can be recreated in modern science fiction and create modern mythologies in futuristic narratives to present or deal with modern human fears.Based on this argument,this paper then continues to explore what kinds of modern mythologies science fiction might deliver.The Chinese film The Wandering Earth(2019)will be discussed in terms of its mythological symbols and metaphors.This paper proposes a new approach through which to reconnect past stories with futuristic narratives and builds a frame in which to contextualize ancient mythologies in contemporary Chinese culture.

Research on the Foreign Communication of Chinese Science Fiction Literature in the Perspective of Public Diplomacy

In recent years,China’s public diplomacy has flourished,with literary exchanges and external communication undoubtedly becoming an essential part.Particularly with the progress of Chinese technology,science fiction literature has become a focal point both domestically and internationally.This paper investigates the background of the Chinese science fiction literature’s national characteristics,the manifestation of these characteristics in works,and the advantages of communication from three aspects.It also explores new ideas for the external communication of Chinese science fiction literature from the perspective of public diplomacy,inspiring new pathways for the integration of Chinese culture with the world,and telling Chinese stories to the world.

Research of Utopia in Chinese New Generation Science Fiction Literature

Chinese new generation science fiction refers to the science fiction after the 1990s because of their diverse creative concepts,aesthetic values and new narrative modes.This paper summarizes the development of Chinese science fiction literature,and analyzes the utopias in Chinese new generation science fiction.The types of utopias in new generation science fiction can be divided into two aspects:temporal and spatial utopias and technological utopias.The characteristics of Chinese new generation's utopia include extraordinary Imagination,new and different ways of thinking.The functions of Chinese utopia are mainly reflected in the affirmation of ultimate values and the criticism of reality.The creation of new generations has brought new hope to Chinese science fiction literature,but in general,Chinese science fiction literature has a long way to go.

A Case Study on the Translation of Fictitious Elements in Science Fiction

As The Three-Body Problem translated by Ken Liu went popular in America, Chinese science fiction has got spotlightfrom all over the world. This article studies the translation of fictitious elements in The Three-Body Problem. Based on the specificmethods Ken Liu employs, general requirements for translators are proposed and strategies of translating fictitious elements areelicited. It intends to bring forth enlightening ideas in translating fictitious elements of science fiction and shed lights on this areaof study which few have set foot on.

Digital humanities affect: The evolution and revolution of spatial information organization in science fiction

The spatial information of literature refers to the representation of physical or conscious space in literary works,including position,shape,structure,features,and relationships.The spatial information organization and its method are essential to the whole process of literature production,circulation,acceptance,and reproduction,which is conducive to a deeper exploration of the aesthetic essence of literature in the information era.Taking the organization of spatial information in science fiction as an example,this paper investigates the way of interaction between informatics and literature,explores the function of spatial information in the narrative of science fiction,and discovers digital humanistic laws of literary information organization.This study finds that the spatial information of early science fiction is organized in horizontal,vertical,axial,and causal modes;in the era of digital humanities,influenced by information technology such as the internet,virtual reality,and artificial intelligence,literary space has experienced revolutions characteristic of time-space integration,boundary dissolution,dimensional change,and virtualization;the spatial information organization of contemporary science fiction adopts nested,reticulated,parallel,interactive,and reverse patterns;on the whole,it is featured with fluidity,chaos,correlation,and mutation,creating a unique digital humanistic spectacle.

Contributions and Misunderstandings:Zheng Wenguang and"Science Fiction Realism"

Zheng Wenguang described the concept of"science fiction realism"in 1981 as a form of misreading,aiming at exploring social problems.Personally,he was rethinking and developing a series of his own writing ideas since the 195os.As for the science fiction community,it was a powerful challenge to the idea that"science fiction is a part of popular science,"which had existed for almost five decades.As soon as Zheng's idea was put forward,it quickly received a warm response from Jin Tao and Wei Yahua,etc.The works,such as"The Moonlight Island"(Yueguangdao)and"Destiny Nightclub"(Mingyun yezonghui),broke down the narrow boundaries of contemporary popular science discourse."Science fiction realism"should be understood to mean"realistic science fiction."However,from a theoretical perspective,all kinds of writings in this period not only narrowed and vulgarized the understanding of"realism,"especially as they ignored heated discussions of this concept,but also blurred the core and boundary of the"science fiction"genre and even dissolved its autonomy to a certain extent.Zheng and his proponents'explorations are Chinese science fiction authors'beneficial attempts to construct local traditions.They reflect a profound anxiety towards reality and a strong desire for self-identification among a generation of science fiction authors.The core point they observe reappears in various guises across the development of the science fiction genre in the following decades.The basic conceptions they are trying to convey have also become important resources for the development of Chinese science fiction literary theory.

The New Liu Cixin Literature:Science Fiction and the Third World Experience

Compared with pure literature,Liu Cixin's science fiction novels show a high degree of novelty.Due to his creative accommodation of third world experience and the Chinese cultural spirit of the 1950-70s,he is able to challenge the universal hegemony of the Enlightenment.The deep feelings of Liu Cixin's novels come from the"guerrilla"character of third world intellectuals who resisted colonization and guarded the country,a resistance derived from China's vanguard position in the third world independence movement.Liu Cixin's continuous writing of the story of weakness over power is not only a response to China's modern and contemporary situation,but also a borrowing from the revolutionary experience to imagine the possibility of another world for readers of thepost-revolutionary era.

The Clash of Civilizations and Cultural Self-Consciousness:Science Fiction and Social Reality in The Three-Body Problem Trilogy

In the view of the relation between science fiction and social reality,the core question of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem trilogy is the clash of civilizations between human and Trisolaran,which causes the future possibility of the end of human history.The narrative perspectives of the trilogy are the intelligentsia narrative by Wang Miao(The Three-Body Problem),the heroic narrative by Luo Ji(The Three-Body ProblemⅡ:The Dark Forest),and the narrative of"the last man"by Cheng Xin(The Three-Body ProblemⅢ:Death's End).If the future civilization of the human beings is likely to encounter the cosmic catastrophe which is caused by the clash of civilizations between human and aliens,contemporary human elite have to rethink the values of morality and civilization,and bravely creating new history of human by rejecting the temptation of era of the end of history.

Between History and Fiction:The Possibility of Historical Science Fiction-Narrative Device and Conceptual Experiment in Qian Lifang's Mandate of Heaven(Tianming)

From inventing cutting-edge technology to designing ideal society,science fiction has always been considered as a literature of future.With the introduction of historical dimension,can science fiction provide us a new perspective to speculate on the future?In 2004,Qian Lifang's debut novel The Will of Heaven(Tianyi),known as the representative of contemporary Chinese"historical science fiction"won both reputation and market.Her second novel Mandate of Heaven(Tianming)was published seven years later.Compared to the tremendous success of the former,it has received less attention.In existing scholarship,neither The Will of Heaven nor Mandate of Heaven has never been studied and analysed in depth whereas the concept of"historical science fiction"remains ambiguous.Taking Mandate of Heaven as an example,this paper will first discuss the generic problem of"historical science fiction"by comparing it with"alternate history."Based on this,it continues to exam how the science fiction element is incorporated into Qian's narrative with the aid of"time travel"and"multiverse"as narrative device.Finally,the paper will examine the conceptual experiment of"Mandate of Heaven"embodied by three characters in the book,comparing different views on the compatibility between free will and determinism.The paper concludes that"historical science fiction"is a re-invention of history.Its value lies not in defining a new genre,but in the possibility offered to readers to reflect on the dialectical relationship between fiction and history.

"Elder's Dual Vector Foil"and the"Spectre"of Karl Marx:The Imagination of Social Form in the 21st Century Chinese Science Fictions

The imagination of the social form has been an important theme in the 21st century Chinese science fictions.The imagination of a social form on the model of"Elder's dual vector foil"contains a logical asymmetry-high-level technology and a primary social form.From the perspective of historical materialism and dialectics,this imagination and other imaginations of the social form,such as intelligent algorithms,that internally dominate or distort the social form through technology,reveal its flaws and limitations.Compared to the imagination of specific technology,the imagination of social form emphasizes the entirety and connection of multiple social factors,and it is hard to thoroughly dispense the invisible dominance of existing human experience.Marxist theory and methodology are indispensable to the imagination of social form in science fiction.Reigniting the Marxist critical imagination of future social form and activating the aesthetic power of this imagination are the future directions of the development of science fiction.

Imagination in Chinese Science Fiction

Imagination is the lifeline of science fiction.In the 20th century,Chinese science fiction has produced the three distinct imagination modes of desire,possibility,and principles,conveyed through at least five expression techniques in neologisms,verisimilitude,temporal disjunction,situational extremes,and metaphorization.Although imagination is critical to the creation of science fiction,there are polarized views about its nature.A necessary task for the future development of Chinese science fiction is challenging false conceptions of imagination so as to establish more imagination modes.

Recognizing science fiction

Whereas science fiction has no identity,no necessary conditions,no essence,and no timeless and universal attributes,we should not be able to recognize it.We do.Something must allow it.This article will show how recognition and learning outweigh contingent feature-based academic projects on science fiction as ends,thereby revealing the socio-cognitive frames that buttress such recognition and proposes that we consider semio-cognitive models to refine our understanding of the genre.To that end,this article shows how science fiction is a creative mode recognizable by its prototypes and the theories built thereon.Ultimately,this article promotes a means-based socio-cognitive understanding of science fiction where it is free,in a new way,from retrospective academic projects to define it by ends.

Tales of Encounter： A Case Study of Science Fiction Films in Greater China in the 1970s and 1980s

An important motif in science fiction films is the encounter between different species--usually between human kind and alien kind. In films of this type, both anxieties and hopes are imagined and exhibited. By examining three science fiction films made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese mainland in the late 1970s and early 1980s--that is, The Super Inframan （Zhongguo chaoren, 1975）, God of War （Zhanshen, 1976）, and Death Ray on Coral Island （Shanhudao shang de siguang, 1980）--this paper analyzes the ideologies and anxieties behind such encounters. These films present different ＂Chinese＂ pictures, revealing the fluidity of Chineseness, as well as the variety of frameworks within the genre of Chinese-language science fiction films. In this time of globalization, it is important to examine these early science fiction films in order to explore the relation between local social concerns and their artistic presentation.

Research on the Space Construction of the Novel Ready Player One

The novel Ready Player One shows Ernest Cline’s ability of space construction,and demonstrates charm and artistic value of the virtual fantasy space it depicts.It is a science fiction with perfect combination of ideological content and artistic form.This thesis aims to discuss the Ernest Cline’s construction of the virtual pace and the real space in Ready Player One and the function of their construction.In real space,the environment is awful and dilapidated,and people’s lives are depressed.While in the virtual space,the world is colorful and people have varied ways of entertainment to fulfill their mind.This Thesis summarizes the effects brought by both the real space and virtual space for Ready Player One.With such a strong contrast,the conflict between the two spaces promotes the narrative process and also highlights the theme of the novel.

Hearing(Technological)Anomalies:An Analysis of Han Song's"The Rebirth Bricks"

Contemporary Chinese science fiction author and journalist Han Song's works often cross the lines dividing reality from imagination,science fiction from literary mainstream,technology from the supernatural.This article,focusing in particular on Han's novella"The Rebirth Bricks"(Zaisheng zhuan),aims to investigate the role played by the senses in a shift from the science fictional novum to the fictional"uncanny."Featuring technological bricks,haunted by sounds of the dead which are perceived through sight and hearing,this novella is analyzed from the standpoint of this perceptual complementarity which expresses Han Song's"science fictional re-enchantment,"a re-use of supernatural themes of the past that allow him to express the(technological)anomalies of China's current reality.

The Decision of Luo Ji:The Existentialist Connotation and the Cultural Revelation of The Three-Body Problem

This article provides an existentialist reading of Liu Cixin's novel The Three-Body Problem(Santti).Luo Ji,with the chance/miracle of Trisolaran invasion,got rid of the unreal status and became the self-conscious existence and the hero who protected the mankind by his decisiveness and responsibilities.However,he gained terror and hostility from human.Eventually,human civilization was extinct because of the rejection to the heroes.The Three-Body Problem showed Liu Cixin's endeavor to revive heroism in the contexts of China and the world,but also represented the writer's confusion as a symptom of the era when he was dealing with the ideological theme of hero and the common people.