Technological innovation helps to inspire beauty in the literary arts. Throughout the development... more Technological innovation helps to inspire beauty in the literary arts. Throughout the developmental stage of Chinese literature, most of the changes in communication media technology have realized the self-per⁃ fection and self-improvement of literature. In the age of artificial intelligence, literary narratives face a series of challenges and opportunities from the machine of “ humanoid intelligence”, and its development is accompanied by non-humanism, human being has died, etc., which touches upon the fundamental problem of literature as a“human science”. Artificial intelligence and literature have different traditions of understanding literary narrative and literary communication, and the traditions can alert and reflect on the contemporary literary re⁃ search in the face of the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine and the nature of non- human, prompting literary narrative research to deepen the universal formation mechanism of narrative textual meaning, gradually crossing traditional narrative boundaries in the midst of confusion and intersection and providing new perspectives for understanding the relationship between literature and people.
As China’s expansion of influence now takes up the spotlight of the world stage, Chinese science ... more As China’s expansion of influence now takes up the spotlight of the world stage, Chinese science fiction, a relatively little known genre, reaches a global audience. In 2015, Liu Cixin received the Hugo Award for Best Novel for his trilogy The Three-Body Problem, as the first Asian science fiction writer to receive the Hugo Award. A year later, Hao Jingfang’s Folding Beijing was awarded the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The recent world-wide recognition of Chinese science fiction begins with English translation, U.S. publication and promotion. The New York Times cited The Three-Body Problem as having helped popularize Chinese science fiction internationally, crediting the quality of Ken Liu’s English translation, as well as endorsements by George R. R. Martin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and former U.S. president Barack Obama (Alter). In this review essay, I argue that recent Chinese science fiction boom represents both Chinese exceptionalism and universalist concerns for humanities now and future. In what follows, I first offer a brief outline of the two works, highlighting the alterations that occur in translations. Then I try to identify several salient features of these works by situating them within the global political and economic contexts of China rise (or threat), geopolitical conflicts, competition and rivalry in science and technology, particularly AI, 5G technology, especially the global rise of nationalism and populism. Finally, I suggest an allegorical reading of these two works (and other recent Chinese science fiction) as nationalist allegories.
Technological innovation helps to inspire beauty in the literary arts. Throughout the development... more Technological innovation helps to inspire beauty in the literary arts. Throughout the developmental stage of Chinese literature, most of the changes in communication media technology have realized the self-per⁃ fection and self-improvement of literature. In the age of artificial intelligence, literary narratives face a series of challenges and opportunities from the machine of “ humanoid intelligence”, and its development is accompanied by non-humanism, human being has died, etc., which touches upon the fundamental problem of literature as a“human science”. Artificial intelligence and literature have different traditions of understanding literary narrative and literary communication, and the traditions can alert and reflect on the contemporary literary re⁃ search in the face of the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine and the nature of non- human, prompting literary narrative research to deepen the universal formation mechanism of narrative textual meaning, gradually crossing traditional narrative boundaries in the midst of confusion and intersection and providing new perspectives for understanding the relationship between literature and people.
As China’s expansion of influence now takes up the spotlight of the world stage, Chinese science ... more As China’s expansion of influence now takes up the spotlight of the world stage, Chinese science fiction, a relatively little known genre, reaches a global audience. In 2015, Liu Cixin received the Hugo Award for Best Novel for his trilogy The Three-Body Problem, as the first Asian science fiction writer to receive the Hugo Award. A year later, Hao Jingfang’s Folding Beijing was awarded the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The recent world-wide recognition of Chinese science fiction begins with English translation, U.S. publication and promotion. The New York Times cited The Three-Body Problem as having helped popularize Chinese science fiction internationally, crediting the quality of Ken Liu’s English translation, as well as endorsements by George R. R. Martin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and former U.S. president Barack Obama (Alter). In this review essay, I argue that recent Chinese science fiction boom represents both Chinese exceptionalism and universalist concerns for humanities now and future. In what follows, I first offer a brief outline of the two works, highlighting the alterations that occur in translations. Then I try to identify several salient features of these works by situating them within the global political and economic contexts of China rise (or threat), geopolitical conflicts, competition and rivalry in science and technology, particularly AI, 5G technology, especially the global rise of nationalism and populism. Finally, I suggest an allegorical reading of these two works (and other recent Chinese science fiction) as nationalist allegories.
Uploads
Papers by Siqi Zhang
Articles by Siqi Zhang
Books by Siqi Zhang