A Very Brief History of Chinese Science Fiction

After laying the groundwork by suggesting that ancient texts that offered supernatural explanations for natural phenomena demonstrated curiosity about the natural world as well as scientific imagination, authors Yao Jianbin and Wu Yan give an overview of major Chinese science fiction authors and trends since the late nineteenth century, when science fiction per se was introduced into China. Tying the development of science fiction in China to the nineteenth-century importation of Western science and science fiction, Yao and Wu trace the fortunes of this kind of literature through the turbulent decades of the twentieth century. They further connect the resurgence and international success of science fiction from China to China’s rise as a technological innovator and world power.