CHINA DAILY | HONGHONG KONG KONG EDITION EDITION Thursday, June 24, 2021 | 17 LIFE PATH TO GLORY literature Sci-fi reflects China’s progress

By Yang

Liu Cixin’s book The Three-Body Problem was published in 2008 and subsequently won top inter- national honors, such as the - yun (Nebula) Awards for Global Chinese Science Fiction and the Hugo Award for science fiction. Since ’s work, the genre has attracted more writers and read- ers in China. Science fiction was introduced in the country at the end of the (1644-1911). Han Song, author, told Xinhua News Agency that there have been three waves of science fic- tion since the Qing era. Visitors look through books on display at an online literature fair in Beijing in 2018. The population of online writers and readers has seen tremendous growth In 1902, scholar Liang Qichao over the past few decades. wan xiaojun / for china daily created the first Chinese sci-fi work, Xinzhongguo Weilaiji (The Future of New China), in which he outlined the blueprint of a splen- did country, thanks to a 60-year self-strengthening political reform. Sharing with Liang the belief that science fiction can Fast-moving words serve as an effective vehicle of enlightenment that might thor- oughly reform China, writer Xun translated Jules Verne’s From The world of online literature in China is bursting with writers and readers, Yang Yang reports. the Earth to the Moon. The second wave happened soon after the People’s Republic of China n late 2012, quit his Five years ago, online writers’ literature has diversified, turn- more than 73 million visitors was founded in 1949, when hun- job as a director at a TV sta- incomes were low because they ing its focus toward younger enjoy its library of more than dreds of millions of people were tion to become a full-time were only drawn from payments readers and writers, and is 1,700 works, which are translat- expecting a rejuvenation in the writer of online novels. At made by the readers, but now increasingly mainstream in its ed from Chinese. It has also country. The third, starting from ithat time, on average, he wrote there are more income channels, themes, says a China Literature attracted more than 100,000 the mid-1990s, is still underway. 6,000 words a day, generating a including royalties from comic executive who didn’t want to be writers from around the world, monthly income of 4,000 yuan books, audiobooks, movies, vid- named. who have created more than ($625). Now, his daily output has eo games, TV series and short- China Literature’s data in 2021 200,000 original works online. risen to about 10,000 words and video adaptations, Zuo says. shows that its readership has TV drama adaptations of his income is more than 12,000 “In terms of income, I haven’t shifted from those born in the online novels, such as Qing yuan. even reached the middle level 1980s and early 1990s to those Nian (Joy of Life), Tiansheng “Actually since 2018, I had among online writers,” says Zuo, born after 1995. Forty-two per- Changge (The Rise of Phoenixes) earned about 25,000 yuan a who is among some 600,000 cent of its readers were born aft- and Quan Zhi Gaoshou (The month through writing. Howev- active online literature authors er 2000. King’s Avatar), have also attract- er, this year, when a family mem- in China. “The younger generation is ed audiences on overseas stream- ber fell ill and my wife gave birth According to China Writers’ more willing to pay for online ing platforms or TV channels. to our second child, I had less Association, by 2020, more than products,” the group’s report says. Apart from online publishing, time to write, so my income 10 million writers had registered Among the new writers regis- physical prints of online works dropped,” says the 40-year-old. on 500 online literature plat- tered on China Literature plat- have also become an important So far, Zuo has completed six forms, among whom more than 1 forms in 2020, 70 percent were way for Chinese online literature Liu Cixin, author of the Three- novels, all of which have been million were contracted authors. born after 2000. Younger gener- to reach overseas readers. Body trilogy, is an iconic figure published on the online plat- Despite the fast development ation writers have added new CWA’s data shows that by the in China’s sci-fi writing. forms of Tencent’s China Litera- in the last two decades, the elements to cater to younger end of 2020, one of the biggest provided to china daily ture Group, which is one of the potential of online literature in readers’ tastes, the executive online literature platforms largest of its kind in China. China is still tremendous. In says. jjwxc.com has had more than 10 “Over the last 20 years, Chi- 2020, the market value of online Writers from all walks of life, million physical books from its Public appreciation for science nese online literature has made literature surpassed 28.8 billion such as retired soldiers, univer- more than 2,400 online works fiction, to a great extent, is related remarkable progress,” he says, yuan, up 29.7 percent compared sity students, doctors and law- sold to readers in Southeast Asia, to the development of Chinese adding that the volume of online with the previous year, accord- yers, add professional North America and Europe society, Han told Xinhua. China is writing has grown and a general ing to China Literature, the experience and knowledge to under copyright. the world’s second-largest econo- environment for such literature country’s largest online litera- their works, which show the For foreign readers, the big- my and the largest manufacturing has been established. ture provider. shift of online fiction from fanta- gest charm of Chinese online lit- base. The urban population has There are three generations of The number of online litera- sy to more realistic, mainstream erature lies in the good stories also surpassed that in rural areas. online writers in China now, Zuo ture readers reached 467 million, themes, such as the respective and the splendid imagination “It means China’s modernization says. When the first online litera- accounting for 47.2 percent of the fights against the COVID-19 rooted in our culture, Ouyang has reached a high point, and sci- ture platforms were founded total internet users in China, pandemic and poverty. says. ence and technology will develop about two decades ago, they according to statistics from Chi- Another obvious change is Despite cultural and geo- fast.” catered to the first-generation na Internet Network Informa- that the value of intellectual graphical differences, quality Shaoting, head of Future writers. tion Center. property has received wider rec- online literary works convey Affairs Administration, a compa- Zuo, born in the early 1980s, is Last year, 2 million new works ognition. Online literature has ideas and emotions that can res- ny that deals with sci-fi business from the second generation and were produced online, increas- become the source of various cul- onate with readers from differ- including publication, consulting those born after 1995 belong to ing the total number to 28 mil- China’s best-selling tural products. A lot of popular ent countries. and filmmaking, says: “Science the third generation. lion. The total value of the output online novels cover a TV dramas and movies are So far the websites of China fiction is a barometer of social and “Drawing experience from the of online literature and related wide range of themes, adapted from online works, the Literature have sold copyrights economic development in a socie- first two generations who cultural industries surpassed 1 including history, executive says. for more than 700 novels to be ty, reflecting its changes.” explored new writing models or trillion yuan in 2020, according science and fantasy. “Technically, the sector has translated into seven languages Despite a history stretching themes, the third generation has to CWA. photos provided to been able to prosper in China in Southeast Asia, including back more than a century, it is in grown quickly,” Zuo says. china daily because the ‘marriage’ of the countries such as Thailand and the last 30 years that science fic- Witness of changes internet and literature has given it , and the United States, tion has really developed in China, Market boom Over the last 20 years, China’s space to grow freely,” says Ouyang. the United Kingdom, France, she says. Starting in the late 1990s, Chi- online literature has become a “In the past, Chinese popular liter- Turkey, among others. “In China, people believe in nese online literature endured a witness and recorder of social 28.8 ature has always been overlooked Reading Chinese online fiction change. Chinese people believe dip in popularity between 2000 changes, an inheritor of Chinese billion yuan and marginalized by dominant helps foreign readers to better that tomorrow will be different and 2003, followed by an explo- history and culture, a promoter the domestic market discourse and high-brow works. understand Chinese culture, the from today, which is the basic sive growth from 2003 to 2014. of Chinese culture in the world value of online The internet has offered mass dis- China Literature executive says. motivation for people to read sci- Regulated development of the and an important contributor to literature in 2020, course and popular literature a On Webnovel, in the com- ence fiction,” she says. sector began in 2015, says Ouyang the development of Chinese cul- according to China new opportunity to develop.” ments section of Guimi Zhizhu Han told Xinhua: “Science fic- Youquan, a professor with Cen- ture. Literature, the country’s Additionally, the development (The Lord of Mysteries), based tion can be a bridge for China to tral South University specializing Starting from time travel and largest online literature of mass entertainment and the on Cthulhu Mythos, a fictional communicate with the world, as a in the study of online literature. fantasy, China’s online literature provider. period of economic growth since world originally created by US side product of modernization. It Around 2013, the government has developed more than 20 the 1990s have provided a mar- writer H.P. Lovercraft, readers is a world language.” conducted a campaign to purge themes and genres covering his- ket for online literature con- post nearly 50,000 comments Since Liu won the Hugo Award erotic content from online litera- tory, video games and stories 10 sumption, he says. every day discussing the plot and for his Three-Body Problem in ture, “so the industry has been based around modern city life million characterization. With the 2015, more foreign readers cast able to develop more healthily”, that can be further divided into writers are registered Overseas audience online encyclopedia, readers can their attention to the East. His Zuo says. more than 200 subcategories. on 500 online literature As the industry has been pros- check colloquial terms that are trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Apart from regulation, the China Literature has more platforms as of 2020, pering in China, it has also commonly found in Chinese Past — commonly referred to in highly commercialized opera- than 9 million writers on its according to China attracted readers from overseas. online literature. China as the Three-Body trilogy — tion has led to great success, books and boasts a library of Writers’ Webnovel, China Literature’s has been translated into 31 - which ensures higher payment 13.90 million novels. Association. English website which was Contact the writer at guages, selling around 3 million for the writers. In recent years, Chinese online established in 2017, has seen [email protected] copies overseas.