Science fiction is a literary genre belonging to the industrial age, but it is not a source of water and a wood without roots. In his book "History of Science Fiction", the British scholar Adam Roberts has discussed in detail the historical origin of science fiction and Greco-Roman mythological literature.
For China, science fiction is an authentic import. However, in the process of continuous "localization" of science fiction over the past hundred years, there are also many people of insight who advocate that China's science fiction creation should absorb nutrients from the long-standing fantasy literary tradition in China. For example, Mr. Rao Zhonghua, a famous popular science writer and science fiction publisher, once wrote in the article "Eternal Charm - A Preliminary Study of the History of the Development of Chinese Science Fiction", which traced the origin of Chinese science fiction all the way back to the "Yanshi Created Man" in the Spring and Autumn Period's "Liezi TangWen", believing that it "appropriately reflected the level of people's understanding at that time, and was a science fiction novel produced through reasoning from the theory of medicine in the motherland." From the perspective of the method of creation of works, it is quite similar to today's bionics, ergonomics and artificial intelligence. ”
In the special literary historical environment of the late 1980s and early 1990s, science fiction novels created by relying on classical mythological stories such as Nüwa patching up the sky, quacking the father to chase the sun, and descendants shooting the sun became an important branch of Chinese science fiction creation at that time. Although with the emergence of a new generation of science fiction writers, the theme of science fiction has become increasingly diversified, and mythological rewritten science fiction has gradually faded from people's vision. But its literary value has not dissipated, after thirty years, as a representative of China's new generation of science fiction writers, Su Xuejun appeared in front of the world with his new work "The Chronicle of the Flood and Famine War", bringing an unprecedented "mythical punk" multiverse world to all readers who love Chinese science fiction.
Under the pen of Su Xuejun, there was once a brilliant Star Sea civilization in the universe, but they were invaded by X-creatures of unknown origin and were on the verge of extinction. In desperation, the Star Sea Civilization chose to destroy the universe and perish with X-creatures. However, in order to continue the civilization, the Xinghai civilization spent an unimaginably huge price, leaving the Honghuang Star. However, as survivors of civilization, the Honghuang people have retreated to the state of primitive tribes. However, as the Buddha said: a flower is a world, a tree is a floating life. The novel's Flood Star, Cloud Star and Earth are the same planet, but they are also in different phases or dimensions, in a spiraling Möbius ring cosmic structure. Thus, the past, present and future, myth, history and reality, are layered on top of each other, constituting a cosmic-scale heroic poetic history.
Author: Su Xuejun
Previously, Su Xuejun's most well-known science fiction works were "Ancient Stars" and "Martian Dust Storm". Both of these works have won the Galaxy Award, the highest award in Chinese science fiction literature. The story framework of the former is derived from the Jin Dynasty Gan Bao's famous work "Search for God, Tomb of the Three Kings", rewriting a loyal story of avenging his father in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period into an interstellar legend in which a Chu general who resisted the invasion of the Qin army helped an astronaut from an alien region repair the "flying saucer" and save the earth by chance; the latter depicts a group of Chinese scientists on the Mars space station, facing the internal and external difficulties of alien biological anomalies and Martian sandstorms, using scientific knowledge and perseverance to finally resolve the crisis and turn the crisis into safety. It can be said that the biggest feature of Su Xuejun's science fiction creation is that in the seemingly ordinary and bland narrative, it shows a sense of crisis and historical responsibility, and always pays attention to the existence and development of mankind, the relationship between mankind and nature and the world, and the existence of the universe, which embodies the author's broad ideological vision and broad humanistic care, and embodies a deep sense of distress and salvation feelings. In his new work "Flood Desolation", such creative characteristics are continued and open up a more ambitious perspective. It shows the author's poetic aesthetic based on traditional Chinese culture and the spirit of modern science, and the unique narrative style, reflecting the unique elegant and calm brushwork of mature writers. This makes "The Chronicles of the Flood Wars" a rare original science fiction masterpiece.
In recent years, the creation of Chinese science fiction has gained unprecedented social attention. However, has our science fiction creation also made great strides in adapting to this kind of attention? I am afraid that this is a matter of opinion. In this regard, the author has always maintained a neutral view. However, compared with the 1990s, Chinese science fiction literature embarked on a journey of re-departure with a ragged posture, and today's development environment of Chinese science fiction can be said to be a change of heaven and earth, and what we need is more people to participate in science fiction creation. This includes both the addition of new people and the return of old authors. The advent of "Hong Huang" created by Su Xuejun reminds us that the return of former excellent creators to science fiction creation itself provides a huge impetus to the development of Chinese science fiction. I hope that more and more people who have temporarily left science fiction creation will return to the new big family of Chinese science fiction as soon as possible.
This article was published in the fifth edition of Popular Science Times on March 18, 2022