Chinese Mandarin - Chinese science fiction? -

> Chinese Culture > Art and Literature
Chinese science fiction?
Home New Posts

Login: Pass: Log in or register for standard view and full access.








AA Institute -

Hi,
I am very curious to learn if science fiction is something that features in Chinese art and
literature? Are there any books or movies that someone could point me to?

Thanx for any help.



Pleco Software Learn Chinese with our Dictionaries for Palm and Pocket PC.
Learn Chinese in China Learn to speak Chinese 1MonthChinese.com -Mandarin School in China.
Chinese Textbooks Wide range, cheap, varied languages. Also Chinese cartoons, toys, gifts.
Study Chinese in Beijing Affordable Mandarin language courses at BLCU with ChinaUnipath.com.
HNHSoft Dictionary Learn Chinese on Smartphone and PDA with real person's voice.
XueXueXue IQChinese Get beyond the plateau.Take your Mandarin to a new level.
Chinese in Lijiang Short term Chinese study in a beautiful town with a focus on daily life.
MandarinTube Chinese Access to current everyday Chinese language and culture, 24/7.
Learn Chinese Homestay Chinese course, cultural activities & volunteer events in China.
Learn Chinese Online 1-on-1 instant tutoring, diverse courses, native teachers. FREE trial now!
Nihao Chinese Progam Free one-on-one Chinese lesson. Win 5-years of free lessons now!


About Ads (and how to hide them) -- Your message here









Xiao Kui -

Chinese science fiction definitely exists, but I don't know much abt it. I believe zhwj is the
resident expert, so hopefully he will see this post and educate you.










atitarev -

I am interested too, I like sci-fi and I like Chinese. I would be interested to read something
online (easier to look up characters).

Interesting how science fictions terms are coined in Chinese - terraforming, aliens, etc. They are
hard to find in dictionaries too.

---
According to Wikipedia "terraforming" 外星环境地球化 Wài xīng huánjìng dìqiú huà, a
long word, isn't it?

Here's the alien (E.T.): 外星人










kudra -



Quote:

According to Wikipedia "terraforming" 外星环境地球化 Wài xīng huánjìng dìqiú huà, a
long word, isn't it?

If you terraform a planet (or pluto ) in our own solar system, is it still 外星? Or adoes 外星
refer to a star outside of earth (which would be all stars)?










student -

Hopefully zhwj will reply directly but in the meantime I've found his site
http://zhwj.livejournal.com/
to be very useful, particularly the index,
http://zhwj.livejournal.com/1420.html










zhwj -

That site hasn't been updated in over a year....

There are really no SF movies to speak of - none that you'll be able to find outside of a library,
at any rate. And it seems that for the past few years there's been an annual announcement of
"China's first SF TV series," but the closest they've gotten have been unwatchable technothrillers.

For literature, the current top author is probably Liu Cixin (刘慈欣). His 中国太阳 and
思想者 are well-known and fairly representative. The first is a quasi-realist look at a laborer
in the not-so-distant future, and there's quite a bit of nationalism wrapped up in it. The second
is more character-oriented, less science and more whimsy. (My own opinion: I think much of his
stuff is a neat idea padded out to story length. He can be a bit saccharine at times, too) He
currently has a VR/timetravel/something story being serialized in Science Fiction World
(科幻世界) (I missed the first two installments, so I'm sort of lost), that I imagine will be
out in a bound edition (and then scanned in) fairly soon.

My favorite SF author is Han Song, a journalist who really writes well. 逃出忧山 is a nice
head-trip, but most of his stuff is pretty imaginative. 长城 is an interesting speculative piece
and a quick read to boot.

If you're interested in getting a more thorough view of Chinese SF history, then 飞向人马座
by Zheng Wenguang (郑文光) and 珊瑚岛上的死光 by Tong Enzheng (童恩正) are nice
examples of the post-CR SF explosion (the latter was turned into a movie in 1982 or so - good luck
finding it).

And if you're really into curiosities, then Chen Qiufan, a young SF writer, recently wrote a short
story using old-style literary Chinese: 甯川洞记.

Some online libraries:

SFWorld.cn - listed by stories. There's also an index of award-winners.
ChinaSF - nice comprehensive site. Forum-style navigation.

Most of the names I've mentioned above can be found easily by searching Baidu.

And now, my mission complete, I must be off to the next online forum in need of an intro to
Chinese SF!










atitarev -

Zhwj thanks!

I'll explore your links.

Kudra, I think it won't change since 外星 is not an alien star but an alien planet in this
context.










ShakeSpace -

Considering that the word "terraforming" does not really involve any constraint about the location
of the planet, I'd say 地表改建 would be a better translation. But 地表改建 could be
ambiguous for 改建 does not indicate the role of 地表. It could mean "reforming the earth
surface" or "reforming into earth-like surface".

And as of 外星 i guess it can be literally translated as "extraterrestrial", or this is how the
word 外星 came into Chinese










hughitt1 -

Heya,

in 科幻小說 (science fiction), 倪匡 is probably the most popular Chinese author.. alot of my
Chinese friends have read his novels. He has alot of books though- "藍血人", and "茫點" are
both supposed to be pretty good. There are chinese forums discussing novels, so you may want to
check there as well.

Take care,
Keith












All times are GMT +8. The time now is 05:22 PM.














Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing,