1
okay hello everyone my name is Michael
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berry I am the director of the Center
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for Chinese Studies at UCLA and a
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professor of Asian languages and
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cultures and it is my great pleasure to
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present our speaker today on our second
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series of CCS online this is our new
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series during coronavirus to present new
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and exciting ideas from a variety of
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different fields and Chinese studies and
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today we have a wonderful scholar and
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writer who is Shahji also known as Wang
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Yao professor Wang Yao teaches and she
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and University and currently Angelica
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University XI an Jiaotong University and
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she's currently also a visiting scholar
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at UC Riverside she previously had done
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a lot of her studies at Peking
19
University in a variety of different
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fields I believe her undergraduate
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research was on Astro furyk sciences and
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later she studied film studies for her
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master's degree in comparative
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literature for her PhD but aside from
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her record as an academic Wang Yao is
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also regarded as one of the leading
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voices of the new wave of science
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fiction in China she's the author of
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numerous books I will hold a few of them
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up these are just a few of her
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collections of short stories and along
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with writers like pencil and notes is
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shin I think she's really regarded as
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women to cutting-edge figures in the new
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Chinese science fiction wave there is a
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forthcoming collection of her work in
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English I believe the title is a summer
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beyond your reach so you can look for
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that and she's also besides writing in
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Chinese she also has published short
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stories in English that she has written
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and we're just so delighted that you're
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here today to share some of your
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thoughts and reflections on Chinese
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science fiction and the title of sha
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jaws talked today sha job by the ways
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her pen name which he writes in her
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fiction and the title of her talk today
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is crossing the boundaries a
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conversation with invisible Chinese
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it's fiction so I will turn it over to
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Professor shot thank you thank you very
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much haha everyone very nice - even
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though I cannot see you I love you
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personally but three very happy to see
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you online and also many steps for
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professor Perry for making this happen
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so today I will just give you some of my
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own stories about Chinese science
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fiction firstly that's like a very
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conventional action I would just add
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something about myself introduction
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actually many people especially like
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English readers after me that true how
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can they call me should should should
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they call me like a shower oh yeah or
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like I said yeah or something like that
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so it's just as Professor Perry
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explained that shirt Wang Yao is my true
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name and the Shia is my pseudonym for
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Santa karate so it's very interesting is
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that as I began to use this pseudo name
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when I was in college at sometimes
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charge I still and in many years
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following its it's like a it's like a
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indicates like my second dark secret
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life it's a is like a secondary mission
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of my life
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and Wang Yao is the normal decent normal
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what yeah just like of ordinary people
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however since Chinese section became
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surprisingly popular here is the years
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then the hope to say that like the
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thirty I began to rise and recite
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Chinese science fiction and began to got
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more and more important and got more and
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more attention and another tricky thing
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is that one yo is also began oh you also
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began to involve in science fiction
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studies so in this case that's my this
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true identities of me began to interview
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each other also vary in size fiction
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you're very science fictional way so
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your will come to coming ow or professor
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Wang Oh sir or
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also come here summer sees like the
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Chinese character charming summer and by
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the way some people after me was a
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meaning of sad was a meaning of Jar Jar
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the Chinese captured Charming's which is
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like ancient musical instrument
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something like a flute
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however the Chinese capture of many
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Chinese people mistake the jaw as shear
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which means a clock so many Chinese many
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of my friends from Chinese sighs become
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community
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they call me chisel or see a girl or
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something like that so you can come at
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plant has a nickname if you want and
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also there's one book last year
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published which is like my first
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academic attraction Chinese kind of is
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sweet I'd also be also coordinates of
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future discussions on Chinese s diction
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in the age of globalization which is in
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Chinese so if you can read Chinese you
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can try to find out book and to read my
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size picture status and the picture in
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the slide the picture on the right is
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the cover of my first coming my first
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English sized picture stories collection
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a summer beyond your reach which
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actually is badly delayed or for many
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reasons but I think right now the Ebert
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in Israel so you can try to find it and
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today our intent to talk about a bit
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more a bit about like a Chinese science
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fiction it's a really really super super
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big topic so my pillar my place to give
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you a very very brief introduction on
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the history and also the recent is
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situation of Chinese fiction and then I
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will focus on more on my own experience
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on how I witnessed the magical
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development of Chinese science fiction
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in the past thirty years and how I
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became a science fiction fan and then
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became a seismic writer and then a
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science fiction researcher during this
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process and how
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sighs fiction changed me and became a
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way of life of me so that's the schedule
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of today so firstly let us start from
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this amazing chart the title is the
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history of citation it is created by an
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artist which his name is what Shelley so
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this picture this chart shows the entire
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history of science fiction from its
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earnest Jews a mythology and legends
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choose the latest TV shows and novels
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however however if you take a bit close
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look on this chart you have found that
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the science fiction from non-english
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speaking countries including this
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Chinese a fiction cannot be found in
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this chart I tried many times and I
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cannot find a hint of tiny section so in
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other words Chinese science fiction is
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invisible is unsane or in other words is
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exfoliator in the history of science
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fiction so I think three years ago in
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2017 this chart is was was printed out
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and it's heavy tail Turing's of force
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China international size fiction
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conference and many people many audience
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the marveled at this chart but there was
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one person his Italian people is my
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friend from Italian
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actually his name is Francis commercial
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it's a very good Santaquin writer and
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also editor he was greatly he's
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satisfied with this child he so he said
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to Arab people he met his exact you
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should not just a satisfy the with this
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chart you should create a new chart a
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chart of the history of Chinese fiction
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or the eastern science fiction yourself
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so that that is his suggestion so very
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good thing is that two years later we
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have this new chart we had this one so
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this one is pretty
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by a Chinese science fiction culture
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company its name is future of fierce
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administration real I show what lead you
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so as time is limited I would just
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briefly introduce the basic time law of
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the Chinese fiction in the past 100
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years which is generally divided into
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five periods so the first one is the
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latest in dynasty is interpreting from
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1902 to 1904 1905 a ssin of the republic
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of china to 1949 the foundation of the
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People's Republic of China the second
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one and then the third one the circuit
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is from 1949 to 1966 when the Cultural
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Revolution began and then the first one
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is from 1978 to 1990 during the
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so-called new era the Singh Shaanxi and
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then the fifth one is from 1992 today
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when Chinese science fiction quickly
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developed and finally became visible to
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the world so that's a basic timeline and
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then I would just pull up pull up a bit
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a bit like interesting stories happened
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during the fifth fifth period this
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period the experienced prison now is
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literally dated from actually 1991
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because that year of historical event
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happened so there was a journal which
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name is coach Giovanni scientific
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literature and art which is established
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in 1979 it is originally a more like a
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popular science journal couple surgery
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but in night in the late 1980s it began
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to cause very hard time and it was
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struggling to some wine so the editor of
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auditory or decided to change its
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approach of just irani this
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so they decided to change the mother's
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name into coal & shizzi a science
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fiction world and they decided to use
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science fiction as a tab for his market
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promotion and then this magazine paid
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great efforts true nurtures sizing
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writers the story size Detroiters and as
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well as fandom suspection fandom and got
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significant success in the late 1990s
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and it was at that time I began to read
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this magazine size award and became a
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big science fiction fan and then in 1989
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another very important historical event
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happened so there's a like a this exam
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its name is a national college entrance
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exam which influenced millions of
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students yesterday every year and in
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1980 no and in 1999 the the exact true
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chose rather sized fictional topic as a
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write-in pump so so if you can read
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Chinese you can see that in the
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instruction it said except that since
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that since the the achievements on human
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organ transportation some scientists
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argue that mammary transplantation would
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probably come true in in the future so
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the examinee are required to compose and
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nasi on the title of if the memory can
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be transplanted Giroux tea could eat you
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and this as it can be it can be a
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fictional story or an augmentation so
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this writing pump triggered wide social
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social concern that here because science
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fiction along with other popular ratings
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for example the romance stories yenching
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or mature martial art stories who share
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all of this are not encouraged in high
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school students in high school education
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in China for for very long time and the
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Sun laces his skins just came to change
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many parents realize that science
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fiction are not
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and not suspect rates just different
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from other popular rating it's
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discouraged by the garment so they began
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to pay more attention to encourages
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their kids to read more size fiction and
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so you can see on the left is an
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instruction of that writing pump and on
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the other side you can see that's what
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the science fiction world they what they
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did during the same period extra poor
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they found this can be a very good
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chance for their mark of their magazines
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promotion so just the two months later
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in the September the published several
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stories related to the the the very same
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sim like the mammary transplantation for
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example other long the cover can see the
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titles of shitty the te which means the
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stolen memory and the second is charity
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each if the memory can be transported so
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they make for use of this opportunity to
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to give their magazine a big pump true
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for for sale so in the following year in
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the 2000 year the magazine sales reached
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for that issue which is also I think is
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a like a historical record which never
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be kept up by other competitors
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so what happened that year in 1991
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happened to me a very important thing is
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that not here I was in green one of high
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school and our Chinese teacher gave us
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an assignment for the compensation
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course of writing an essay on if sub C
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can be transplanted which means you can
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replace memory as everything you can
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imagine
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so which gave me a chance to finish my
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very first science fiction story if
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dreams can be transplanted as you can
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see this is how it was shown on my
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composition notebook and this led mr.
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that that story is a kind of like a
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pastor of a Catholic he stopped here
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where human beings lived a very pathetic
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life in underground cities and I started
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dreaming anymore
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and one day is a protagonist she's a
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little girl
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a middle school little girl she kasam
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dream recording discs and viscous discs
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she began to trim those old dreams from
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The Forgotten Overground time which just
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over time so in the dreams she
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experienced some never experienced
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things for example that the ocean the
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beautiful sky the Sun sights the sunrise
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does grasp the ring all of these
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beautiful things and all of these dreams
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give her a big strong try to call for
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other people to struggle for return to
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the prom so that's a basic idea of the
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story so that story was about like a age
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thousand the Chinese characters which is
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quite quite quite long for a high school
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high school students I see so I had to
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past eight six extra pages to my
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composition notebook to ride on the
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horse story so this is this is my very
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first step and also a very big step of
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my sister crying and during those years
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in high school I had also rose
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of stories most of them are size diction
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and the one of the stories was inspired
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by Catron's tower of Babylon which is a
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masterpiece inter private missmiss
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logical and scientific visions in a very
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fascinating rate highly recommended
340
recommended and some of you may have
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heard of Ted chaough the name of caption
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from of example arrival the 2016 science
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fiction film adapted from his work story
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of your life so when I finished the
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story my best friend my best girl friend
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her name is young she he read my story
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and then he wrote a piece of comment my
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in my notebook he or she said that if
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tower of Babylon is a kind of soft size
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fiction then your story can be regarded
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as poor science fiction chief anchor1 so
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because in China we have this kind of
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like a hard rise in fun and the soft
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rice run fun so hard science fiction is
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something even softer than the soft
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science fiction so that witches can be
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very hard to to separate it from other
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genres they just um just on the boundary
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between between science fiction and
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other terms for example Farah tears mace
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this kind of sees legends or fantasies
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so I think many some of the English
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sighs to be right a readers they get to
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know this term horror science fiction
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because of conversation between me and
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canoe his oz my good friend and one of
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the pesticides from writers and the
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translators and he translated most of
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the musicians work from Chinese into
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English and they did our conversation
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and which was published in 2015 in
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clucks war and I will come back to this
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term some horror science fiction later
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so three years later in 2001 I submitted
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I just submitted submitted several of my
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stories - sighs fiction water and it was
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my very first and the only time using
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the mailing system to submit stories so
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which is very impressive and a memorable
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and after I mailed my printed stories I
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waited and waited for maybe several
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weeks or maybe several months I can
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remember exactly and however exiting the
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end I received some rejection letters
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that's a very bad ending of the story
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but however however the actress still
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wrote me some very good words to
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encourage me so as a latch you can see
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that there's a comment from one editor
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the editor one he said the it's a very
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good story my story is a very good story
392
so recommend to accept and please pay
393
attention to nurture this talented young
394
writer seeing you in future Jim a boy
395
outside Tschida Georgia the talent is me
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however on the left you can see is a
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this is a letter from and the other
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additives added two new he explained why
399
he decided to reject my story with a
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very actually reasonable reason however
401
at the same time he also encouraged me
402
to keep writing
403
so here sorry here he said that he don't
404
know Lee something that you see
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something you have you have some
406
yeah you have some talent in writing
407
these ashes all your food don't you
408
wasted but don't spend too much time on
409
writing and a delay your schoolwork so
410
seriously is that she cheered me
411
seriously
412
and he was really serious to give me
413
this subjection and I'm also very
414
serious of accepting his suggestion so
415
serious you learn in to sell in a forum
416
and I was in college I published I
417
finally finally publish my first a story
418
quiet in a pencil that
419
enslaving flat in size fiction story so
420
suspect reward sorry so that story was
421
inspired by a very scientific conception
422
Maxwell's demon which is which is
423
learned from the thermodynamics textbook
424
I was learning at that time and as a
425
story is actually very poor science
426
fiction because you can see there's a
427
real demon having conversation with a
428
fitness business if it is to Maxwell in
429
the story so that story was in original
430
published online and I haven't have done
431
that claim to submit the story however
432
an editor from sastric reward rather
433
story on why and he liked that so he
434
decided to use a story to publish that
435
and then I was also very lucky to be
436
awarded the choosiness for galaxy award
437
for the best new writer in curtain three
438
Jocelyn John so the galaxy galaxies were
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awarded for the best stories published
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in science fiction war which is voted by
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these readers and it used to be the only
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in size exciting award in China in 1990s
443
so here you can see on the right is the
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announcement page of the 2004 galaxy
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Wars so this is me with my son see a
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sense worse and another one here you can
447
see in the left corner COCC he is also
448
awarded for the packs for the best our
449
stories action year and then my career
450
as a size decorator just starting from
451
that story and a sense then I wrote a
452
series of cup of stories and I published
453
many of the short and even novelist
454
stories and then I want about like a
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seven galaxy award so far and in Tucson
456
of twelve I published my first science
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fiction collection just as Professor
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berry shown
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the first one just also titled ask the
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team on enslaving blast and my first
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story translated into English the 100
462
girls the pirate side was also published
463
that here
464
in Clarks Warren in Tucson and health
465
which is translated by canoe as a
466
mission he's a pastor when surpassed the
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writers and the translators and also
468
that summer is in the summer of 2012 I
469
traveled to the US for the very first
470
time to attend work on the world science
471
fiction convention and that was a very
472
memorable journal and that time I it was
473
my first time to match can do physically
474
and also I witnessed him Callooh veining
475
his first a Hugo Award and here's a
476
picture of some of the Chinese and the
477
Chinese American participants including
478
for example canoe and ginger fan and
479
housing van and sorry yes and yeah and
480
there's also me and you can guess which
481
one is me and another picture the one on
482
the right is my favorite American
483
seismic writer Ray Bradbury who passed
484
away just two months ago just two months
485
before I come the world calm so I
486
participated a memorial panel for him
487
and I shared how his works influenced me
488
it's also very very good experience but
489
one of the most precious moments during
490
the world kong is that when i was on a
491
panel on science fiction on chinese
492
science fiction after all of the
493
panelists introduced the chinese science
494
fiction one audience he asked me and
495
other participants of a very tough
496
crashing what makes Chinese a speaking
497
Chinese so that's a very big crashing
498
and the very challenging one
499
so that's question challenged me and
500
also haunted me for a very long time and
501
then that that question just became the
502
primer of the primary problematic of my
503
ph.d program so two years later in 2014
504
I finished my PhD students dissertation
505
entitled 2005 sentido continue Shiva
506
fears and hopes in era of globalization
507
Chinese science fiction and its cultural
508
politics politics since 1991 to 2012
509
so here's a picture of the freshly
510
printed dissertations because even here
511
you can you can tell from the picture
512
that is very acrobatic one with about
513
514
captures so but no English translation
515
and another picture is me as a
516
dissertation defense book it looks quite
517
see and I can I cannot remember why why
518
I'm so confused but if you feel
519
interested in my science fiction studies
520
in contemporary Chinese science fiction
521
maybe you can read my shorter paper
522
entitled national Algar in the era of
523
globalization which is written in
524
English about like ten thousand words
525
and that paper just elaborates the main
526
idea in my dissertation so maybe later I
527
can just the just the center paper to
528
Professor Barry I think you interested
529
you can just get a paper and have a look
530
and then after my graduation I got a
531
teaching job at XI an Jiaotong
532
University and that became a a teacher
533
at the University and in 2014 my story
534
which it is really really really a short
535
one but but also my first story written
536
in English entitled unless our talk was
537
published in nature some may be the most
538
amongst the most famous scientific
539
journey
540
cuz maybe many people doesn't know many
541
people don't know that the Nature has a
542
column special column for flash
543
science-fiction entitled a futures so
544
when I firstly heard of this news of an
545
i firstly read some of the stories from
546
the column I realized that maybe I can
547
also try to write a shredder short story
548
in English and the sub means that story
549
true nature and then if I lucky enough
550
maybe I can I could be the may be the
551
first the Chinese people who publish a
552
science fiction in nature which sounds
553
really cool so I had a try and then I
554
was very luckily to to succeed and the
555
gossip story perish so maybe some of you
556
have already read a story if you have
557
not sorry first boring so the basic idea
558
of the story is about like a talking
559
with the guitar have a conversation with
560
a I so the main character of the story
561
is it's a female linguist and she was
562
invited to strong a problem that some
563
intelligent toys with appearances of
564
very killed Co pups had created a new
565
language which humans could not
566
understand so the licorice suggested
567
that instead of fearing from those
568
pastels
569
they should have the courage to talk to
570
them and so in the end of story she
571
became the first human saying hello
572
through the sills so the story have to
573
admit that the story is originally
574
inspired also by tip jar story the story
575
of a life in that story of there's also
576
the main character is also a female
577
linguist and she persuaded the military
578
commander that the proper way of study
579
alien language is not to analyze their
580
grammar structures through for example
581
recording materials just as expected in
582
most science fiction movies but to talk
583
to them face to face and the lesson to
584
study human language at the same time
585
so I think that is the most important
586
lesson I have ever learned from the best
587
sighs fiction stories which is just to
588
embrace the difference to communicate
589
with which the other needs to have the
590
courage to knock as a tool and to cross
591
the boundaries between for example
592
different languages different cultures
593
different words the boundary between the
594
world of known and unknown so in my
595
story in let's have a talk
596
the nature because that stories you
597
nurtured in a first-person narration so
598
the nature she actually she's she came
599
from China so at the story she decided
600
to use her mother tongue to say hello to
601
the cells
602
as you can see in the master master lies
603
a lot of sentences so you can see that
604
he said much Nihao and then he sat down
605
social Harwich means let's have a talk
606
shall we
607
and another interesting it that says my
608
story is written in the first person
609
without any crude of the nature's jan
610
gender so in the first draft of the
611
illustration as it's on the left you can
612
see that's a first draft
613
the figures coding in the flock of sea
614
pups is apparently a male because the
615
the artist who created that illustration
616
he thought he naturally thought that the
617
narrator should be a male but then after
618
I saw this illustration I feel he's
619
satisfied with this figure so I wrote a
620
mail to the editor of nature and
621
explained the implication of gender
622
issue except that this character has to
623
be a middle-aged female from China
624
rather than a white male engineer and
625
that is very that very crucial for
626
story so good thing that's the editor
627
kindly accepted my opinion and then he
628
after the artists true device the
629
alliteration and so in the final version
630
you can see that the feeder has a longer
631
haircut and maybe a bit bigger breast as
632
you can see here so he became a sheen in
633
the final version so that's that is a
634
story behind the da behind my first
635
story rich in English let's have a talk
636
so in the year of 2015 I came to the US
637
for the work home for the second time
638
and this time the word curl is held in
639
Spokane yes it was him spoken and and
640
this time I witnessed the news sessions
641
the three-body problem was a Hugo Award
642
for the past and no the past novel and
643
such a word was announced by art Renaud
644
from the international space station so
645
during the ceremony all the audience in
646
the stadium
647
we just we can see from the big stream
648
from the big screen that this astronaut
649
she was just floating in the
650
International Space Station and the he
651
unlost at the winner is the three-body
652
program and then he is through the book
653
throughout the book to the camera and
654
all of audience can see can see that the
655
book was floating toward the camera in
656
original estate
657
so what which was a super super crew and
658
a super-sized fictional moment and very
659
historical moment because that's a very
660
first time for our Chinese and also
661
translated work to one this past novel
662
Hugo Warner and you can you can imagine
663
that how crazy I was screaming as had
664
momentum in the last man
665
however it was a bit pity that you see
666
what wasn't there because he didn't
667
believe that he would want the Hyuga one
668
so so Kelly was there as a translator he
669
accepted the trophy and give the sacks
670
for this regime and and the during the
671
work Hong I also have other interesting
672
stories for example I interviewed charge
673
our martini and I carefully prepared a
674
gift for him so as you can see the
675
picture the gift is a Chinese fan this
676
category feeling on one side so this for
677
captures our culture mapping which
678
litter makes god of the pit Martin so in
679
Chinese when the officer created a super
680
long work it's called we call this
681
action as I like on digging a pinch so
682
God has a big mix the author keeps
683
writing but never finish so the readers
684
who have fallen into the peach can only
685
wait in the peach gas room desperately
686
so that's what Chinese people call
687
Martin we call him pitch because of page
688
function so after the interview I give
689
the fans an essential heart Mary and
690
explained the meaning of the categories
691
and the case seemed really happy with
692
that so he does a concert send and have
693
had this picture and also after war calm
694
I actually accidentally got a chance to
695
meet Jeff Chang in person in Belleville
696
which is where he lived and actually
697
touched on his are not very sociable
698
people and he doesn't show around a bit
699
a lot so you imagine how excited I was
700
when I got to know that I have this
701
opportunity to talk to him face to face
702
so I'll be Matt in a cafe in ba Bo and
703
after I introduced myself as a siphon
704
rider from China and I how I got rule of
705
his stories when I
706
in high school and he replied that yes I
707
know I know that part science fact
708
fiction right and I said yes and then I
709
just stuck for a stone for a [ __ ] for a
710
short time and then suddenly I realized
711
that he just had read my conversation
712
with canoe which he doesn't publish that
713
a few years earlier so he already know
714
who I am and now I already know my my
715
likes my connection of the connection
716
between my own seismic writing with him
717
so if you have read a story of life you
718
may know that the story is just
719
basically around the concept of of time
720
and in the story is a female linguist
721
says he/she learn the strange alien
722
language from that the aliens in the
723
stories and that language is a nonlinear
724
language so that she could experience
725
and that log will also change in her her
726
mind her like a structure of her feeling
727
of this world of of space and time which
728
give her this ability to experience the
729
past and the future moments at the same
730
time as a very like a very magical
731
ability so when I heard the term percise
732
fiction coming from a job suddenly I had
733
a very sized fictional feeling that I
734
was back true about like a three years
735
ago to the high school when I was
736
reading the comment on my conversation
737
notebook from my best friend young she I
738
thought was my first time to read the
739
term her science fiction and at the very
740
same moment I was hearing a song coming
741
from very near very far future coming
742
from three years later from from maybe
743
15 years later from Cape John he said
744
that here yes I hear you I hear you your
745
size fiction your part size diction and
746
appreciate
747
so the
748
a very magical moment in my life and
749
then in 2017 I traveled to Helsinki for
750
my server calm so that time because that
751
was healed in our not in the US but in
752
European countries so the host
753
tried their best to mixes were calm
754
became more international so the
755
organizers say they invited a group of
756
presenters from different countries
757
including me
758
so here are pictures of me presenting
759
the Hugo Award for pastor semi-frozen as
760
you can see in the pictures and that
761
time there's a certain volume of the
762
three-body problem trilogy I think it's
763
finally said yes the data that's in so
764
that's what bottom it was also nominated
765
for the best new for the past novel of
766
catechism not Hugo Warner but so that
767
time havens we have sinky but very
768
unlucky lai-him lost the Hugo so after
769
the ceremony he went to the losers party
770
held by george RR martin so because
771
every year there was there would be like
772
a losers party held by john madden for
773
the losers of hugo world and he drunk a
774
lot a lot that night he said don't worry
775
because the trunk as we can as many as
776
we could because all of this drink will
777
be just on Marie's death so hope they
778
talk a lot bus but I think the good
779
thing is that he already made some
780
unbelievable achievements which no one
781
else have ever made before so maybe
782
that's a pity but he he has he already
783
succeeded in many ways so the permantly
784
the crashing the crashing is what's the
785
next what what you expect after loosing
786
after the shrimp on a problem for those
787
Chinese science fiction so under that of
788
Barry
789
very challenging crashing and there's no
790
clear answer right now but what is clear
791
is that from my point of view from at my
792
in my opinion I think what what is
793
crucial is that the younger generation
794
of science fiction writers in China
795
including me cannot easily for example
796
copy losing small copy his way of
797
writing they have to exploring a variety
798
of different directions to unfold those
799
invisible spaces and show all of this
800
hidden spaces to other reading readers
801
in our own ways so that's a big
802
challenge in front of all of us
803
and in recent years I have been working
804
on a new project it's kind of like a
805
fix-up normal entitled Chinese
806
encyclopedia and it's it should be
807
because it's not finished and it should
808
be consisted of a series of short
809
stories exploring how ordinary people's
810
lives would be influenced by technology
811
code development in near future China
812
and in most cases I would just like to
813
introduce it as a Chinese version of
814
black Miller but not that dark so here I
815
want to explain a bit more about this
816
title because this title Chinese is
817
Chinese is a cube here it's actually
818
borrowed from an article by our burgers
819
in that article burgers quotient of
820
fictional Chinese a fictional Chinese
821
encyclopedia in which the interest of
822
for example animals divided are divided
823
into a very curious way of classes
824
classification for example a is like a
825
belonging to the Emperor P is involved
826
the C is tame the sucking pigs he sirens
827
F fabulous Jean stray dogs are included
828
in the present classification so this
829
kind of kind of like out just like some
830
nonsense and later Fred photographer
831
philosopher Michel Foucault's also cited
832
this passage in the preface of order of
833
things and archaeology of human sizes
834
and he used this fictional Chinese is a
835
coup period to discuss about the
836
difficulty in understanding another
837
system of such and I think such
838
interpretation just echoes with the he
839
destroyed in my own writing in my
840
stories of this fix-up novel so the
841
existence this title Chinese
842
encyclopedia not only literally implies
843
a setting
844
of all of these stories but also becomes
845
a metaphor of the boundary as a mission
846
the boundaries between the same and the
847
other which encourage in which requires
848
over courage or a curiosity and a mercy
849
to step across and all of these stories
850
just came derive from lastima talk that
851
short story so in all of the story you
852
can see the same main capture the female
853
linguist she travels to different for
854
them at different cities in China and
855
miss different people mostly ordinary
856
people in each story and the so far I
857
think just only one of all of the so far
858
I finished about like eight stories yes
859
I think eight stories in this serious
860
and but only one of these stories have
861
been published in English entitled cool
862
night good night melancholy and that
863
story explores depression and AI
864
surfaced and turn chest so isn't also
865
but it's also a story about like how can
866
we or can we not have a good talk with
867
the eye and later this year another
868
story from the same fiction novel
869
entitled is a monk of Lin temple main
870
system will be published in the Anna the
871
MIT reviews otology intron comments
872
tomorrow's lovers family and friends and
873
it's also Papa
874
translated by canoe so the story will be
875
Buddhism and color and atonement in this
876
age of technology so please I think this
877
book will be will be a forthcoming in
878
this September so please if you feel
879
interested that just the look forward to
880
that so as I said in the very beginning
881
science fiction changed me and became a
882
way of life of me
883
way of a turn as I said in for several
884
times as a way of crossing the
885
boundaries so as is shown in this to
886
charge we can see that which which is a
887
I think the best way to elaborate how
888
science fiction can be a way of crossing
889
the boundaries so on the left you can
890
see that is how common overcome our
891
common sense function which is it says
892
like a there's an invisible boundary
893
which just in cycle the all of the
894
things we have already known and most of
895
time when we registered as a follow all
896
of this conditional common sense
897
Commission on knowledge to speak to talk
898
and to act and these so-called comma
899
says says is actually kind of like a
900
sheer letter like a the dominant
901
ideology shared by the majority of
902
people but sometimes sometimes sighs
903
diction can be a good way to provide us
904
a vision to see something different to
905
see beyond this boundary to see
906
something beyond this common sense and
907
interesting about like a something to
908
ask question about like what else to
909
think differently what else what else
910
will be in somewhere else not here but
911
somewhere else and knowledge and this
912
kind of question can push us to go
913
further to try to explore to to explore
914
for like a example portal to get khatoun
915
the other words with an other dimensions
916
of the unknown words so that's a I think
917
what child-sized fiction can the best
918
things science fiction can provide us in
919
my opinion and if you want to read more
920
science fiction from China here's a
921
short list of recommendation of course I
922
think many of you have already quite
923
familiar with the three-body problem
924
trilogy by noticing and also we have the
925
best hide by a change of fun and the
926
other one is the the
927
reduction the reduction of time by pound
928
shoe so all of this the facts all of the
929
facts
930
all of these are novels and if you are
931
more into short stories here we have
932
true on Salah geez
933
for example the invisible planets and
934
broken stars both are translated and
935
edited by canoe and there's a third one
936
called rewriting shell the English title
937
is touchable unreality is a bilingual
938
anthology so if you want to use science
939
fiction as a way of like a look for
940
example learning English or Chinese you
941
can choose this one and this first one
942
is a The Wanderers is a collection by
943
researching and as a title story has
944
been translated has been adapted into a
945
film and it became really like a top as
946
example like the top this is the second
947
of the pasta so the batter like a
948
blockbuster last two years late last
949
year yeah in 2019 and a and this one can
950
be watched on Netflix but I am not quite
951
sure how about exceptions in the English
952
or other languages audience maybe not
953
such good as in China so in the end let
954
me just end up my speech with my own
955
Rory this is one of my favorite so in
956
the drawer you can see here's a little
957
girl she is she's she's she's she's
958
watching a she's saying oh rat dream and
959
she doesn't know where the drug she is
960
going but she can feel a very strong
961
desire inside the desire of jumping ups
962
are registering and going to somewhere
963
else so I think size picture for me is
964
like this Brad trim and also I hope my
965
speech today can be also that's
966
registering for all of you for which can
967
take you to leave the your
968
you are familiar war 2 somewhere else
969
for example to go to the invisible world
970
of Chinese science-fiction and I hope
971
you have a nice trip here okay that's
972
all thank you thank you professor Wong
973
it was wonderful we really appreciate
974
you sharing your insights on Chinese
975
science-fiction and a bit about your own
976
history and personal journey in this
977
field yes so I have a few questions also
978
a few students have emailed us a few
979
questions and so if you don't mind we'll
980
maybe continue the conversation a little
981
bit and the first I'm gonna start with
982
one of the student questions but I'm
983
gonna piggyback with a little of my own
984
thoughts so the question is are there
985
aspects that set Chinese science fiction
986
apart from American science fiction but
987
now I'm gonna also ask and you talked
988
about in your lecture how this whole
989
notion of what makes Chinese science
990
fiction Chinese being a kind of question
991
that haunted you a little bit during
992
your dissertation and led you to explore
993
that but I'm gonna play the devil's
994
advocate a little bit and just ask why
995
does it matter because one of the
996
beautiful things about science fiction
997
is that it provides an alternative
998
reality in a different space a different
999
time a different race often where we can
1000
finally shed the identity of nationalism
1001
and human geography and so why are we so
1002
obsessed with this notion of Chinese
1003
science fiction or nationalism projected
1004
if you mentioned wandering earth and
1005
that maybe some American audiences were
1006
didn't have as strong a receptionist
1007
Chinese audiences and that's an example
1008
where you have a science fiction story
1009
but as a very strong nationalistic kind
1010
of ideology that's injected there and so
1011
I was wondering if you could say a
1012
little bit about why why nationalism
1013
matters and why does and should we care
1014
about it when we talk about science
1015
fiction or should science fiction be the
1016
one literature that we can shed this
1017
kind of matters because yeah next time
1018
somebody asked me this question why is
1019
matter why so curious about like a
1020
Chinese Chinese news of kind of science
1021
fiction and I think uh I think there's
1022
like a hidden desire to behind this kind
1023
of crashing that's like example the the
1024
readers from like english-speaking such
1025
communities they are also looking for
1026
something else something from there I'm
1027
not worth one thing is that when we
1028
speak of science fiction we think that
1029
it should be a very international very
1030
futuristic but actually in a very
1031
long-term of history is not actually not
1032
it's very actually a European center and
1033
your Europe America central very like a
1034
honestly like a smash and snap style of
1035
like a as a as a mode of understand what
1036
is for example civilization what is like
1037
a mortality and the witches in many ways
1038
actually natural our way of thinking for
1039
example be let me speak of like of
1040
example space exploration space travel
1041
if you if you watch some like a movies
1042
or TV series about like the space travel
1043
or like a space opera stories especially
1044
for the readers from non-western culture
1045
audience you can very easily if to find
1046
so many of Lexuses culture bias
1047
discrimination hidden in this kind of
1048
narration so but maybe for like the
1049
white readers they think that appear so
1050
natural for all of these for example
1051
civilize the alien spacious doesn't
1052
speak very good English and the
1053
uncivilized aliens ever speak something
1054
songs like just meaningless but she
1055
sounds like a for example of Asian or
1056
meadow issue languages this kind of this
1057
is very super face super superficial
1058
examines examples but I want to say that
1059
as globalization just accelerated and
1060
give up so many challenges and problems
1061
to ask about was a problem about this
1062
modernity this only mode or only way on
1063
this most dominant way of modernity
1064
then there's must be the question to
1065
couple with these kind of questions
1066
what's like the alternative modernity
1067
and what we can can be learned from
1068
other alternative narration of modernity
1069
so I think that's why people just became
1070
more cared more and more cares about
1071
China for example Chinese science
1072
fiction because China no you cannot say
1073
China China is not a modern country
1074
which is but it's still many many
1075
differences be from for example American
1076
mouths of Europe development and also
1077
the the sections researchers are they
1078
also paid a lot of attention about you
1079
um for example
1080
photosensor Africa Pedro we like to read
1081
even all as afro afrofuturism to tourism
1082
yeah after futurism yes so just from
1083
native cultures so I think the problem
1084
is not like like that you regard for
1085
example China or Africa or Latin
1086
American or this kind of like a regional
1087
terms as how to say like the essence of
1088
nationalism and as a way of true remove
1089
us from this Europe America Center to
1090
try to understand that there are really
1091
that they're really not just that in
1092
seismic generation but in the history in
1093
the 20th century they used to be really
1094
a multiple ways of modernization and the
1095
feedback to this very process of
1096
alternative moon ization people in
1097
different regions and the countries
1098
recruited their own way of caring about
1099
stories about developed development and
1100
the future and this became the science
1101
fiction narration so there's a very
1102
natural flow the from this very process
1103
so I
1104
that's also what I try to treat to Adams
1105
at an abscessed Chinese science fiction
1106
in this way so then I will be you
1107
mention for themselves as some likes our
1108
traditional culture in the science
1109
fiction for example David Wong describe
1110
the suspect in lady Ching as sighs
1111
honestly because there are so many
1112
shouldn't y souza Chinese traditional
1113
pharmacy admins he combined his single a
1114
new scientific development technology is
1115
think that's kind of stories but he also
1116
provided why this fantasy elements still
1117
exist and how can be how could this
1118
animus reflect people's for example the
1119
transformation of not from of ordinary
1120
people now by sea you mean they are way
1121
of thinking the transformation of the
1122
earth mind such theories a very
1123
important transformation of political
1124
and politics and a society user
1125
beginning of 20th century
1126
so I think just a king the contemporary
1127
Chinese has fiction since the 1990s we
1128
can also see not the exact same but a
1129
very similar process of the development
1130
of science fiction how how it echoes
1131
means this transformation of Chinese
1132
society so that's what I explored in my
1133
paper in my dissertation yeah wonder if
1134
I could ask a follow-up if Chinese
1135
science fiction indeed provides us with
1136
a kind of alternative modernity or
1137
alternative outlet to Western science
1138
fiction when we look at Western science
1139
fiction there's all of these subgenres
1140
time-travel world-building
1141
are there besides the fantasy element
1142
that you just mentioned what are the
1143
other subgenres of science fiction that
1144
we only have in the Chinese context are
1145
there yeah I can give a lot of like a
1146
serious look like as sabroso like what
1147
they wanna mention is that in 1998 sir
1148
it used to be a very popular way of
1149
sighs to be writing to uh actually it's
1150
simply a very simple and very not very
1151
sophisticated way but still very
1152
interesting as like a mirror a cultural
1153
mirror to reflect people's way of
1154
thinking that it's like a narration of
1155
sterilization or like so how does it
1156
mean the terms was a client of between
1157
summarizations so this kind of story
1158
they're always like a very developed
1159
from the my alias validation or alien
1160
visitor came to [ __ ] somebody came
1161
through the earth and he he or she or
1162
ages the travel to the nation to China
1163
and to meet some Asian the Chinese
1164
people and he he or she learned some
1165
traditional Chinese wisdom and he
1166
realized that oh that's a really very
1167
very smart way of thinking and the big
1168
me as highly developed civilization we
1169
shouldn't learn from this similar very
1170
primary a primary very ancient kind of
1171
sterilization so not only of tracker how
1172
does he like the motile the mean that
1173
you're is the anxiety of this
1174
realization that nationalism or like the
1175
culture subject that's what do women
1176
what is mean as like for example Chinese
1177
people or China Chinese culture in this
1178
era of globalization and also you can
1179
see there's many about like a complete
1180
computation between different of
1181
civilizations there's like a develop
1182
developed and undeveloped and sometimes
1183
you can see that ultimately they can
1184
they can never fight against they can
1185
they cannot try a trifle to hobson to
1186
compete with such developed culture
1187
realizations because they have been very
1188
powerful mappers but at the same time
1189
the authors they also try to think about
1190
some kind of like a counter occupation
1191
occupation occupation that
1192
the use of this digital Amanda to not
1193
say that about the envelope today they
1194
are Chinese but they apparently have
1195
some elements very similar as Chinese
1196
people victim of the armory for the now
1197
peaceful life and they very happy to
1198
live aquaculture way of production and
1199
they use some kind of like a Confucius
1200
way to arrange their social Society or
1201
social orders and this kind of like a
1202
culture or yes Confucian culture or like
1203
the or the Chinese traditional culture
1204
has this magical power to to let such
1205
developed in civilizations to identify
1206
the race this under the undeveloped so
1207
this is a very kind of like of national
1208
national the submission of the allegory
1209
of national a degree of nationalism in
1210
the era of globalization yes this is one
1211
of Canada's and during the period I
1212
think there are also like a discussion
1213
on houses or cycling writers actually
1214
choose approach of develop their size
1215
fish stories some argue that that only
1216
the four examples are the Golden Age
1217
science fiction more is just a common or
1218
proper way of writing science fiction so
1219
if we want to develop this develop the
1220
Chinese science fiction and the which
1221
can be a good way because many people
1222
believe that which can be a very good
1223
way to develop Chinese people's
1224
scientific spirit and then to develop
1225
Chinese science and technology so they
1226
think that it is a magic power of all of
1227
these things so they think that to
1228
follow up all of these conventions crit
1229
advisor for example Golden Age masters
1230
the white masters is only proper way to
1231
develop Chinese size diction and if you
1232
want you like detour you to try to find
1233
a easier way and you
1234
this fantastic fantasy elements that can
1235
be are not very good ways like a violin
1236
she does the wily Russian to find a
1237
Yeezy but not a good way but other
1238
people other riders believe that we can
1239
not just a follow follow those masters
1240
forever we have to find some so called
1241
the Chinese way even though they did not
1242
know where will that what this Chinese
1243
way should be but they said that they
1244
encourage riders to try me or to borrow
1245
elements from all of these different
1246
kinds of writings for example they purse
1247
from Lorien or Sutton's new historical
1248
writings to like rewrite the Chinese
1249
fake history and he very actually very
1250
kinda selects a magical realism
1251
narration style to write a science
1252
fiction story so this is have to try
1253
different ways and I think that's very
1254
charming very fascinating like an
1255
experiment field to actually actually to
1256
look back for him
1257
things are just true to the science
1258
fiction in the 1990s you you talk from
1259
the beginning of your lecture a lot
1260
about this history of Chinese science
1261
fiction and I want to go back to that
1262
timeline a little bit because people
1263
like me when we think of science fiction
1264
in China we usually think of these three
1265
climaxes first being late Ching the
1266
second being the early reform era and
1267
the third being the last 20 years or so
1268
this current moment and the first to
1269
have very clear political subtexts the
1270
late Qing of course the nations in
1271
crisis you have the Sun yat-sen
1272
Republican revolution that's taking form
1273
and there's all kinds of ideas about
1274
modernity about nationalism and science
1275
fiction is playing into these new ideas
1276
about science itself
1277
yes future utopian imagine China sure
1278
and then early reform era you've got the
1279
four modernizations right
1280
the Kushina daiquan and very much those
1281
are but then we get to the more
1282
contemporary moment doesn't seem to be a
1283
clear next there you didn't give a
1284
little bit of background about the high
1285
school examination and these magazines
1286
that played a role but if we step out of
1287
that and look from a macro perspective
1288
what do you think are some of the what
1289
are the real reasons that we have this
1290
flourishing of Chinese science fiction
1291
over the last 20 years are there
1292
historical political economic things
1293
happening in society that you feel are
1294
directly fueling that hear your thoughts
1295
about what else led to this current
1296
flowering yes firstly I see I think the
1297
the very uniqueness of the science
1298
fiction after the 99 is that it
1299
it's firstly became a real mass culture
1300
and that it's just a flourished and a
1301
survived as a mass culture in this mass
1302
culture market which used to be very
1303
clear in the 1990s so many different a
1304
chance of writings like a she-she-she to
1305
me or like a dimensional sure this kind
1306
of like a discussion on how can they
1307
develop how can we write you know proper
1308
way and the Huckabay
1309
survived in this market and we have like
1310
the bunker or other like so many like
1311
Hollywood films so it's just a very
1312
chaotic feel for the mass culture to
1313
flourish and so that's just during the
1314
this process the science fiction world
1315
the magazine they decided that they have
1316
to survive as a culture not as our
1317
example the pop pop sighs reading or
1318
like a very political reading but does
1319
they have to sure for example they have
1320
to know what's their readership is
1321
exactly is and how can we to attract
1322
this very specific readership so
1323
they did a several of off like like how
1324
does it censorship delta-y investigation
1325
and they realize that in near very
1326
beginning they stops at the exam of the
1327
assassin readers should be program about
1328
college students and if they realize
1329
that's not true
1330
the main readership they should attract
1331
is students from the middle school so
1332
they did a lot of work to not just
1333
attractive the the middle school
1334
students but also attract their parents
1335
which is very important because at that
1336
time their parents they have the power
1337
to buy the magazines or to like to order
1338
the magazines from the post office for
1339
their kids so that's also how I became
1340
to read the story in my parents they
1341
start out such diction is a good thing
1342
which can like put some a calculate your
1343
size spirit so they decided to order the
1344
magazine from the post office and which
1345
made me this became a very loyal size
1346
diction reader and the size of em and
1347
that's why I also mention is that in the
1348
nineteen ninety ninety nine the magazine
1349
editors the make use of this opportunity
1350
to connect their magazine to the
1351
examination to improve that the their
1352
magazine actually is a very not
1353
non-efficient whole magazine just a
1354
actually very popular culture magazine
1355
but they just use they're just different
1356
ways to improve to to persuade the
1357
parent that they're met they have the
1358
prominence in the system of education so
1359
that's one thing and the other thing is
1360
that I think in the 1990s the size it
1361
still became very culture yeah cuz in
1362
for example hinga from the 1950s to the
1363
70s
1364
size is apparently very political and
1365
the garments used their strategies true
1366
true like to promote size like there
1367
must be like a mask size movement to
1368
kachou paralyzer sizes but in the 1990s
1369
no and this thing is also have deep
1370
connection with the process of
1371
collaboration during that process people
1372
Chinese people can't you read them catch
1373
catch you opportunity to have them more
1374
and more like popular culture popular
1375
scientific culture readings translated
1376
from English and other languages so for
1377
example we have that eat we don't own
1378
shoes a person p push books so so people
1379
they read that kind of like scientifical
1380
readings not just the full size itself
1381
but us only of true for example to get
1382
some words to talk about their current
1383
situation as well as the future because
1384
it's just so close to the meaning year
1385
and the Chinese people are also very
1386
undesired anxious about what will happen
1387
in the next century so at a time there
1388
so many the so-called scientific
1389
readings became super popular and so
1390
science fiction were accustomed just one
1391
part of this big culture map of these
1392
popular science readings yeah and also
1393
we can just the end of the game and
1394
there are those of different chance to
1395
to to discuss about this very
1396
complicated actually it's like a net of
1397
like cultures in the 1990s yeah and also
1398
I think the media is very important that
1399
because imagine itís the the Sun like a
1400
common media for the mass culture just
1401
became true Ferrari rapidly for example
1402
the TV
1403
suddenly the mailings and millions
1404
people in China became true to watch TV
1405
and the magazine is another same that's
1406
as I mentioned and such that you were
1407
used to casts a pig of their spheres as
1408
like a four hundred thousand and then
1409
they just became to decline because a
1410
magazine market itself became true
1411
decline young people just stopped
1412
reading magazines so I think that in the
1413
nineteen
1414
exactly maybe 1997 that's another
1415
interesting things that's like there's a
1416
TV program shown in the in the titty a
1417
CCTV maybe I can't remember which I know
1418
it is but apparently so partly like
1419
efficient no of official program talking
1420
about like ie the readings for the use
1421
and that programs criticized some of the
1422
popular readings for example the
1423
Japanese manga and I think because most
1424
of the Japanese manga is a tomato burn
1425
her paralyzed paralyzed yes so there's
1426
many problems many poor bus about this
1427
kind of manga including for example the
1428
sexual elements and abhorrent elements
1429
of the program that greatly criticized
1430
this kind of table waiting and at the
1431
same time it gives some good words true
1432
other good readings including science
1433
fiction world so if this kind of program
1434
it's shown to be it cannot be that in
1435
fluid you free show us it's used to made
1436
in the middle 1990s so many the accident
1437
accident accidental events happened in
1438
that time and the caves has fiction some
1439
opportunity to yeah became like some
1440
like a culture phenomenon earlier in
1441
your talk you mentioned george RR martin
1442
you Mary Bradbury is one of your early
1443
idols and of course that goes
1444
you also mentioned how all of the
1445
Masters of science fiction of the West
1446
are these old white men right Isaac
1447
Asimov right right that then and so I'm
1448
wondering you have a very different
1449
background right you're from China
1450
you're a woman you studied science the
1451
fact that you have a bachelor's degree
1452
in atmospheric sciences
1453
and so you actually understand the
1454
science behind this foundation how does
1455
that can you talk about the importance
1456
of providing that alternative
1457
perspective and especially your training
1458
in the sciences and how that informs
1459
your fiction and maybe brings a
1460
additional layer of realism to your
1461
writing but I love this here to talk
1462
about your own identity and how it's so
1463
different from what has dominated most
1464
science fiction writers and where you
1465
situate yourself in that history and
1466
dialogue I think in the very beginning
1467
in the very early cured of my seismic
1468
writing I still don't think about this
1469
kind of issue and sometimes I even
1470
rejected it to be to be called as like a
1471
[ __ ] up of female size to be writer
1472
because when you talk about his famous I
1473
felt like it's the generation like a
1474
specialized the female is a very special
1475
kind category of seismic writers and
1476
then I think a very important just to be
1477
happened after I began to began to do my
1478
PhD program under the supervised
1479
supervision of Professor because she
1480
actually really influenced me in many
1481
many ways cuz for her you mean--you it
1482
even heard of the hurt her saying that
1483
like like I forget about the seeking for
1484
alternatives to listening to the sounds
1485
the echoes of the ghost of those
1486
patchers and - yeah - to think about
1487
what else this kind of thing so that's
1488
so I think the the most important lesson
1489
is not from my scientific lesson but
1490
actually really from my humanities
1491
training especially from this was not
1492
only my mind my supervisor the whole
1493
time and my fellow students they shared
1494
us the similar way of think about this
1495
word and its history and another future
1496
so I think it's very important too
1497
to have this consciousness to to seek
1498
for the alternatives to - for example to
1499
identify to raise the minority because
1500
if you from a very common sense you you
1501
think that most people say this kind of
1502
variety is good so that that must be
1503
good and if you heard of for example a
1504
writer or the piece of work from
1505
non-english speaking country it's very
1506
easy for you to consciously slay just
1507
think that that's not important because
1508
it's from a minority culture and it's
1509
very easy to follow this kind of common
1510
sense but if you have this consciousness
1511
you have this sometimes it's like AHA to
1512
see that's like a yeah just yeah
1513
consciousness you will realize that the
1514
importance of to revise this picture the
1515
is also professor that you pass term
1516
like a revised revised up after the map
1517
of their world at the end our society -
1518
so he he he he studies a lot about the
1519
third world countries in Latin America
1520
and before I became true study with from
1521
her those pure cars of the world for me
1522
it's very strange very also very easy to
1523
so as I talked before I began my PhD
1524
study sometimes I just think that I got
1525
stucked by some dilemma that I want to
1526
refuse come some kind of like a dominant
1527
narration because I just naturally feel
1528
uncomfortable with this kind of
1529
narration but I don't know how to find a
1530
way to escape from that because you see
1531
that sometimes the more you struggle
1532
with that kind of logic of this
1533
narration you are consuming more just
1534
just introducing just trapped in inside
1535
this this very logic so the the problem
1536
is that you do not have alternative
1537
vision
1538
to see that the history and the world
1539
itself is actually very complicated
1540
others then the dominate narration of
1541
the history the history is not just very
1542
easy story about lecture for example the
1543
the stronger always being the winner
1544
takes all and the capitalism is not
1545
always the single game he's at all there
1546
used to be alternatives and not ran out
1547
of steel alternatives the para is that
1548
we have to find them and listen treason
1549
under to think was the application of
1550
them can brought us so this is the the
1551
big twist of me and then I began to kind
1552
of like a take advantage of my own
1553
culture eternity as a Chinese young girl
1554
because I do remember that the very
1555
beginning of my writings this cost some
1556
readers they attacked me of my writings
1557
this is absurd my policies fiction are
1558
too soft because they expected very hard
1559
hard core science fiction as loosing
1560
stories so this sought me as like a very
1561
bad episode of real succinct writings so
1562
the act me in a very actually very 30
1563
way some like a gender gender is
1564
sergeant and which used to made me a bit
1565
like a shame of my own identity why I'm
1566
not a man
1567
why I'm not a middle-aged engineer who
1568
can very naturally use loses his mother
1569
I story cuz I actually to be honest I
1570
try to chew mimic doses he's right
1571
historian to red star I think this is no
1572
Karim I is demeanor his science and I
1573
really know what her size words I can
1574
write some very nice things by alright
1575
hard side side story and I can use this
1576
hardcore science scientists as my main
1577
capture who always care about the
1578
humanity and who always have to make
1579
make make some very hardest decision to
1580
think about how should I for example
1581
sacrifice
1582
people truth make some other people
1583
survive this kind of sorry I can do that
1584
I know how it works but because I do not
1585
believe in that so but I tried to mimics
1586
us this kind of sliding I feel very
1587
uncomfortable I feel this strongly a
1588
strong inner inflict so that's what I
1589
used to be faced a basis like a kind of
1590
a problem
1591
or like a dilemma but I think so I want
1592
to say that after that chased after
1593
lateralization us for example the
1594
majority actually can be a minority
1595
Minori actually can be a very good
1596
vantage to fund another way of to see
1597
the invisible wars which most of people
1598
cannot see or they do not want to see so
1599
I became too proud of my my Chinese
1600
young girls culture identity and I began
1601
to actually elaborate this kind of
1602
identity issues with my writing more and
1603
more for example I began the etiquette
1604
I became true consciousness
1605
consciousness me more you know
1606
consciously use using for example female
1607
captures and I tried to make these
1608
female characters more and more
1609
complicated but still lovely they cannot
1610
be just like a simple simple mind a
1611
beautiful girls they can be for example
1612
it can be academic researchers they can
1613
be women's who didn't different kind of
1614
works and azekah still be lovely in many
1615
different ways they can be pretty and
1616
but at the same time d they would not
1617
just lose their charming because because
1618
of their brainy and because of because
1619
of me i got to know so many of charming
1620
brainy intellectual female in in
1621
different ages some of them are very
1622
young and some of them old are still
1623
very charming so I think as you
1624
confident of
1625
true writing this kind of captures and
1626
it it can be a very good way to using
1627
these kind of captures to tell
1628
science-fiction stories so they will
1629
talk about it like masters the best of
1630
course most of them are white male but
1631
they're still female masters for example
1632
the Lagoo and she's also about my
1633
favorite and as I began to read more and
1634
more of her works I realized that her
1635
really brief achievement she did choose
1636
a whole lot not just the science fiction
1637
but of the whole nature reward the the
1638
alternative visions should provide it
1639
and I think maybe I can I can do some
1640
similar work yeah this kind of say yeah
1641
great I'm gonna ask one final question
1642
okay and actually I'll begin with the
1643
elephant in the room which is the fact
1644
that we're not at UCLA in a conference
1645
room giving a talk we're on these
1646
computer screens because of we have this
1647
global pandemic right now Kove at 19 and
1648
in this context not only we all we're
1649
all quarantined at home there's all
1650
kinds of new national tensions between
1651
countries and America we've got armed
1652
militias storming government places of
1653
government it's it's really become more
1654
science fiction than science fiction in
1655
many many ways and I'm wondering you as
1656
a science fiction writer living amid a
1657
time like this weather every day on the
1658
news there's so much surreal things
1659
happening what does that do to you
1660
creatively in what ways does it hinder
1661
your creativity or inspire you how do
1662
you process that and what happens when
1663
you face a world that's more fantastical
1664
and science fiction than maybe even the
1665
wildest short stories we could imagine
1666
how do you forget that that's a very
1667
tough question and a very good one I
1668
think that's just a challenge to me but
1669
you the psychic riders of all of the
1670
world so one thing I wanna mention is
1671
that I think it was eating the March
1672
when I was began to currently at home I
1673
was working on size different story and
1674
that was that
1675
should be submitted to our seismic
1676
restore accommodation so which so which
1677
means there was a deadline and I had to
1678
submit a story by the end of the March I
1679
think yeah and as much so so the story
1680
the original idea about I saw the title
1681
of a fella story is like the marching
1682
marching architect posing the intrusion
1683
and the original story is that there's a
1684
also either linear filter China is also
1685
the part of the Chinese encyclopedia
1686
series and I guess a group of people
1687
they want to they want to build up a
1688
tongue or a literal City as an
1689
experimental place for like alternative
1690
alternative way of living so it's called
1691
like a marching Tom and the idea is that
1692
before we have the ability to really to
1693
travel to the Mars and attribute of like
1694
of exam a second human settlement on
1695
Mars they needed to think about how can
1696
we do better or basically for example
1697
more environment friendly way of living
1698
instead of just a simple repeat our
1699
civilization to other planets and that
1700
can be a disaster not only to the earth
1701
but also to the universe so that's a
1702
basic idea of this mass huh
1703
so so there is a karma as well and anak
1704
began to spread in the US and how to
1705
sing about more about how can my curse a
1706
story can harden in his summary the
1707
response to the kind of situation I
1708
began to talk I began to try to involve
1709
this discussion about for example how
1710
this kind of coaching redefine the
1711
individual connections and what can we
1712
think of for example this dilemma of
1713
the dilmer ask a girl first about the
1714
trolley problem cuz he says sure that's
1715
many this kind of discussion about how
1716
three sacrifices they tell the little
1717
group of people or the or to sacrifice
1718
more people and we have examples of
1719
equations which are very classic
1720
classical sized picture stories in 1950s
1721
and influenced not only the English
1722
style fictional stories and also for
1723
sample uses sinkage big influenced by
1724
the story so in my story I began to
1725
chart to discuss to reduce cus this kind
1726
of question is a consideration and my my
1727
idea is that this actually is not a real
1728
question via face such as we actually we
1729
up we are sharing the breath of each
1730
other so we can never think about that
1731
we can really very ideally true to fix
1732
about you should separate the self under
1733
the other
1734
the others and to think of things things
1735
that we care happily sacrifice others
1736
actually they are not a minority
1737
they're just others because they are
1738
others so we think they are not as
1739
important as us so we think they are
1740
secure festival but the truth is not
1741
like that
1742
if the so in my story this a crashing
1743
that if for example there's a boat with
1744
some people who got influenced by a
1745
virus in the boat and the boat asked for
1746
example to approach the harbor shoot at
1747
the the the people live in the Hobart
1748
Hong decide whether or not they should
1749
accept that boat so which this kind of
1750
discussion happened or not theories
1751
process not just about for example a
1752
real boat but also should we accept the
1753
immigrants which travel everywhere and
1754
how can we how has to be should we help
1755
the people who are really in the need of
1756
the help so many people say that we
1757
should a circus because the situation is
1758
so cruel
1759
we have to calculate the outcomes and
1760
the and is like a sacrifice of every
1761
decision and sometimes we have to make
1762
some very Cody's decision to sacrifice
1763
this kind of people and the you have
1764
found that we you make this design of
1765
sacrifice some kind of people thus the
1766
outcome can be even more horrible and
1767
finally they were finally just got very
1768
bad influence to the people who imagined
1769
they are just hidden in very safe place
1770
so it's a bit complicated but I think
1771
this kind of question should be
1772
discussed in a new way
1773
insightful stories because many science
1774
fiction readers see maybe because they
1775
got influenced by the the coding
1776
equation stories this subset is a locker
1777
for some many readers of the three-body
1778
problem they think that the the dark
1779
universe drew is like a natural rule
1780
it's not not like a human created rule
1781
so when the user is a natural which
1782
which means you cannot change the truth
1783
but I think the purpose at academic just
1784
a challenge to so many many of this
1785
apparel single a natural rules then they
1786
think about so many issues and we we
1787
have to realize the fiction ality of
1788
this all of these jews and we have to
1789
she's back shoes of examples of
1790
historical Jews of this kind of juice or
1791
the the comma says there's too many
1792
Commerce's exist that uses fiction even
1793
those a section have this promise to
1794
break through the common sense so as if
1795
the permit the real challenge is is that
1796
I myself have stopped feeling that today
1797
man I for example read a story about for
1798
example the singularity is coming the
1799
very strong AI I feel I began to feel
1800
this kind of leadership became true lose
1801
the power to persuade me he
1802
I know that the future will not be like
1803
this even though just a few years ago we
1804
saw such this trust will be very true to
1805
took to come and then V now we see we
1806
can see the Sun like the black hole the
1807
orderly visible yes you with about black
1808
hole existing this kind of narration
1809
which does not destroy the whole map of
1810
this narration so I think that it's a
1811
time to call for some new of writing
1812
science fiction not follow ha with all
1813
of this civilization narration because I
1814
I've read so many old conventions from
1815
for example 1988 e-40 stop here or the
1816
like the matrix
1817
stories like the super powerful AI
1818
control the human being and it's very
1819
easy to for the readers to criticize the
1820
imagined anime for example the AI or the
1821
company who created the AI or the for
1822
example the government but the problem
1823
is not of course you can this is very
1824
easy to criticize this sorry chief
1825
because they are there they looks like
1826
they they need to take responsibility
1827
and sometimes in real how to take the
1828
responsibility but on the other side of
1829
story is they have just thinking more
1830
about ourself as other people or as like
1831
a community or group of people how can
1832
we take responsibility to chu'lak to
1833
improve the better future so this this
1834
is not I think it's not for exploring in
1835
many science fiction stories I can't say
1836
in real so I think that that's a very
1837
good way to channel Rodman writers to
1838
explore the new ways yeah also also for
1839
me it's also a very good challenge I
1840
also I already a band-aid a couple of
1841
like ideas I have the plan to develop
1842
for this series under than
1843
they are not actually very good ideas
1844
and I need to think at least to develop
1845
this ideas of maybe a people a small
1846
staff furthermore to explore the
1847
discussions maybe not discussed by the
1848
the the other writers so I think that's
1849
important for all and all of the sites
1850
we derived writings process features
1851
also always seek for news with the norm
1852
yeah so so good luck for all for the
1853
writers and also for me yeah well thank
1854
you so much professor Wong aka Shahji
1855
for sharing your wonderful insights and
1856
Chinese science fiction we wish you all
1857
the best and again for our viewers out
1858
there you can find a lot of Professor
1859
Wong's books on Amazon the Chinese ones
1860
and the English version of a summer
1861
beyond your reach
1862
ebook available and print book coming
1863
soon so I encourage everybody to explore
1864
her wonderful fictional universe that's
1865
out there waiting for you so thanks
1866
again plus I'm long