Outside of "The Three-Body Problem", has Chinese science fiction literature found a law of survival?

Courtesy of Visual China

It has been 15 years since Liu Cixin began serializing "The Three-Body Problem" in "Science Fiction World".

It has been 15 years since Liu Cixin began to serialize "Three-Body" in "Science Fiction World"; it has been 6 years since "Three-Body" won the Hugo Award; but the recent big news of science fiction is "Three-Body", and its film and television has finally made new moves.

As a "ashes-level fan" of "Three-Body", Wang Nono, a post-90s girl, found that "Three-body" has become "Three-body", and all phenomena in life can be explained by "Three-Body": there is a "dark forest law" in the workplace, and there is a "dimensionality reduction strike" in business warfare... Wang Nono graduated from Cambridge University, worked in a big Internet factory, is starting a business, her career has changed, and her "part-time" has not changed - she is a science fiction writer.

Children who read "The Three-Body Problem" have grown up, and outside of "The Three-Body Problem", has Chinese science fiction literature found its own survival rules?

"If Memory Can Be Transplanted" Makes Sci-Fi "Overnight Hit"

If Chinese science fiction in the eyes of outsiders is currently about equal to "Liu Cixin + "Three-Body", then science fiction literary journals are about equal to "Science Fiction World". In the memory of Yao Haijun, deputy editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World, the journal set a record of 400,000 copies per month in 2000.

There must be chances and there are accidents. After all, 20 years ago, the journal market as a whole was relatively prosperous, and "400,000 is not a great number." In 1999, there was an accidental incident, that year's college entrance examination language essay title was "If memory can be transplanted", and on the eve of the college entrance examination, the sixth issue of "Science Fiction World" happened to publish related novels, which made many parents see the magazine's "betting" function, resulting in a surge in subscriptions the following year.

The current circulation of "Science Fiction World" is more than 100,000 copies, which is far from the peak of 400,000 copies. However, Yao Haijun introduced that it is not only this journal, but a series, as well as "Science Fiction World Translation Edition", "Science Fiction World Junior Edition", "Little Newton", etc., from the perspective of audience scope, covering a wider range of people.

Yao Haijun said that in fact, science fiction literature, as a genre literature, is more suitable for the public to read. But in China, the situation is a little more complicated, and science fiction also plays the role of popularizing science and disseminating science — or mission, not only to make readers happy to read, but also to promote imagination and encourage children to set their sights on the future.

When Wang Nono was young, her grandfather bought her a lot of science fiction books, "maybe they can't be called science fiction, more like science fairy tales, with a little science popularization." When she grew up, she had her own pocket money, and she went to the newsstand to buy "Science Fiction World". Looking at it, she had the urge to write.

"The attraction of science fiction to me, when I was a child, was to find it interesting and amusing, and the older I got, the more I felt that it was a very luxurious thing. It has nothing to do with life, and even when friends are gathering, they can't say it to show off, but it is such a thing that brings me a lot of relaxation. Wang Nono made an analogy, reading science fiction and writing science fiction for her, like a middle-aged man who comes home from work, does not go upstairs immediately, sits in the car and smokes, is a short withdrawal from life and work.

"The Three-Body Problem" is like a fuse, and "gunpowder" has accumulated for a long time

The "Cornerstone Series of Chinese Science Fiction" edited by Yao Haijun was launched in 2003 and includes works such as "Three-Body Problem". At that time, Yao Haijun wrote in the preface to the series that the gap between Chinese science fiction and American science fiction is actually a gap in the degree of marketization. American science fiction from periodicals to books to film and television to games and toys, has formed a complete industrial chain; while China's book publishing is still in such a situation: readers' reading needs can not be met, but publishers lament the sales of science fiction books in the thousands of copies.

More than ten years have passed, "The Three-Body Problem" is like a fuse, and "gunpowder" has accumulated for a long time. Yao Haijun believes that from the perspective of creation, the "three-body fever" brings an effect, "just like a group of singers singing, one person raises the tune, then everyone's starting point has also become high"; from the perspective of publishing, in recent years, the number of science fiction literature has increased; more importantly, creation and publication have promoted the pace of industrialization of Chinese science fiction.

Before "The Three-Body Problem", there was almost no concept of science fiction industry in China. The science fiction industry is not only books and magazines, but also peripheral products such as film and television, games, animation, and exhibitions. Maybe science fiction is not so hot now, but Yao Haijun feels that this is a stage problem, the industrialization of science fiction has just started, "when more and more works are filmed and television, and there is more and more interaction between novels and other products, we can see that day."

Yang Qingxiang, a professor at the College of Letters of Chinese Min University, said, "It can be said that Liu Cixin single-handedly brought the whole of China's science fiction to a very high level" - not only creation, but also dissemination, becoming a phenomenon; not only Liu Cixin and "The Three-Body Problem" have become phenomenal, but also the entire science fiction literature, from writing to reading, has become a trend, including the hot screening of "The Wandering Earth". Chinese audiences used to rarely watch a science fiction novel or science fiction movie, and there were very few such products on the market.

In Yang Qingxiang's view, looking at the development history of Western science fiction literature, there is a significant feature, that is, the industrialization of science fiction writing. The purpose of a science fiction writer's writing is not just a novel, but to pursue the ip-based industrial chain.

The early boom of European and American science fiction appeared in the "pulp age" of the 1930s. At that time, science fiction was considered a kind of popular novel, printed in cheap magazines with a large circulation of waste paper pulp. Therefore, in a sense, science fiction has the attributes of commercialization and industrialization from the beginning, and it is the quantity and market that go.

"China's film industry is still on the road to maturity, and the excitement of the film and television of "The Three-Body Problem" is not only the excitement of people in the literary circle, but also the excitement of people in every part of the industrial chain, and its market significance is greater than the literary significance." Yang Qingxiang said.

Wang Nono found that now China's science fiction fans are more students, young people, and younger; in Western science fiction exhibitions, many senior fans in their 40s will be seen. "We haven't gotten to that point yet, and in another 20 years, young people will enter middle age and may still love science fiction."

Whether an industry has potential depends on whether there is an influx of young people

In Yao Haijun's observation, the biggest change in science fiction literature today is that it is becoming more and more "diverse", and works of various genres and themes have their own audiences. "In the past, hard science fiction novels like 'The Three-Body Problem' were the mainstream; now, Hao Jingfang, Chen Qifan, Han Song, Bao Shu, Jiang Bo... These writers work in a variety of styles, but each has their own fans. Yao Haijun said that the prosperity of science fiction should be like this, not only in number, but also in diversity.

Yang Qingxiang once edited the writers' publishing house "Qing Science Fiction" series of books, which includes a group of representative works of young science fiction writers. Young authors are exploring new directions beyond the "hardcore" standards set by The Three-Body Problem. "To judge whether an industry has potential, it depends on whether there is an influx of young people." Now that more and more young people are joining the science fiction writing community, I am optimistic about the future of science fiction. ”

Yang Qingxiang believes that the division of science fiction literature into genre literature is a more mechanical way of dividing, for example, Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" in 1818 is considered to be the originator of science fiction literature, but it is also serious literature. Science fiction literature does not lack literature, let alone no audience, "in the campus of Chinese Min University, students of the School of Business, the School of environment, and the College of Labor and Personnel, they will all read science fiction."

Unlike his predecessors, Wang Nono's first science fiction work was published on the Internet, and then published works such as "Earth No Response". In the young-aged Internet Q&A community, "science fiction" is a popular category, with 3.62 million people following and 33,000 questions triggering nearly 500,000 discussions. Wang Nono's certification information is "science fiction writer" with nearly 480,000 followers. Both click-through and paid reading can bring her income, and print publishing is no longer the only way out for science fiction writers.

Wang Nono, who majored in economics, believes that science fiction literature should first meet the reading pleasure of core readers, impress core readers and copyright demanders, and make it easier for science fiction to break the circle; when it comes to the stage of overall prosperity, science fiction literature that does not consider business will also have a place to live.

"More than a decade ago, we basically only had science fiction writers who created for love, and there were few science fiction writers who created for royalties, and full-time writing was a distant dream. But today there are already some young people trying, and the development of the science fiction industry has brought them more opportunities. "Yao Haijun is pleased to see that there are now various science fiction essay contests every year, publishing houses are looking for good science fiction works, and film and television companies are seeking science fiction genre scripts... Science fiction writers have a broader living space. (China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Jiang Xiaobin)

Source: China Youth Daily