Deconstructing Neoliberalism's Promise: Chan Koonchung's The Fat Years and the Potential for Change in the Present-as-Impasse

This article addresses the affective pull of the idea or fantasy of the better life that is seemingly promised by neoliberalism. Chan Koonchung's speculative novel The Fat Years ( Shengshi: Zhongguo 2013 nian), now available in at least thirteen languages worldwide, is one of the most widely circulated literary works by a Hong Kong writer to date. Despite its global success, Chan's novel has been criticized for its Sinophobic and antiestablishment disposition. While some might frown on the perceived Sinophobic discourse in The Fat Years, this article argues for careful consideration of the novel as a complex exploration of the state's manipulations of happiness as a tool of political control, addressing the broader implications of such affective techniques in post-2019 Hong Kong. Although Chan's novel predates Hong Kong's 2019 National Security Law, I frame my analysis within the context of post-2019 Hong Kong to highlight how these new laws are part of a broader continuum of imperialist practices China has long used to exert control. Additionally, I argue that the novel functions as a “small story” — a conscious act of deconstruction or delegitimization of a hegemonic and monolithic image of the Chinese future, especially as it serves as a horizon of potentiality, a not-yet-here. Despite its apparent limitations, I argue that Chan's dystopia can be understood as an aid in affectively reaching beyond the boundaries and quagmire of the stultifying, deadening, capitalist present.