In “Folding Beijing,” a man faces the danger of traveling to First Space, risking his life to earn the money needed to send his daughter to school. In “Flowers of Shazhui,” we are tortured alongside a desperate father who threatens his employer with self-immolation in exchange for a pay-off of his daughter’s school tuition. Multiple stories highlight the relationship between parent and child. As I read Invisible Planets, several prominent themes emerged. Weaving together Chinese ghost tales, technology, community, globalization, and modernization, Chinese SF has taken its own form. The authors, either consciously or unconsciously, include within their stories numerous elements and themes that reflect a contemporary worldview. However, this anthology contains various moods, tones, and reflections that are important for Western readers to understand. Summarizing such an array of writers is not possible here. The themes and purposes of each story are as vast as the Chinese population. Invisible Planets is a collection of short SF stories from various authors. So, “In 1983, the anti-spiritual pollution campaigns wiped SF from the map again.” Today, with China’s rapid modernization and globalization, writers have taken ownership over their dreams, expressing them in the genre of Chinese SF. SF inspired fantasies of modernization and globalization. For years, Chinese SF readers devoured translated works by Jules Vern and Isaac Asimov. The tenuous relationship stems from Chinese scholars not wanting SF to overshadow real science. We need to listen as the authors present Chinese worldviews through science fiction.Ĭhina has had a love/hate relationship with SF-breaking up and getting back together again.

The stories in Invisible Planets uncover the dreams and realities of the Chinese that are not often expressed in everyday life. Why review a science fiction (SF) book in a journal about contextualization? Contextualization is partnered with worldview. Invisible Planets: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese SF in Translation, CiXin Liu, ed.

Invisible planets book