Table Of ContentCelestial empire
C e l e s t i a l e m p i r e
The Emergence of Chinese Science Fiction
NathaN iel i saacs oN
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown, Connecticut
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
© 2017 Nathaniel Isaacson
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Richard Hendel
Typeset in Miller and Gill types by
Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Names: Isaacson, Nathaniel, author.
Title: Celestial empire: the emergence of Chinese science fiction /
Nathaniel Isaacson.
Description: Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028269 (print) | LCCN 2016046258 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780819576675 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780819576682
(pbk.: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780819576699 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Science fiction, Chinese—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PL2275.S34 I83 2017 (print) | LCC PL2275.S34 (ebook) |
DDC 895.13/0876209—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028269
5 4 3 2 1
Cover illustration: A Chinese depiction of what was most likely an unmanned,
steam-powered aircraft made by American inventor Samuel Langley
(1834–1906). Dianshizhai huabao (c. January 1897–January 1898).
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
introduCtion
Colonial Modernity and Chinese Science Fiction 1
1 Genre trouble 27
2 lu Xun, sCienCe, FiCtion 46
3 Wu Jianren and late QinG sF 60
4 sF For the nation 93
5 makinG room For sCienCe 108
6 lao she’s City oF Cats 125
7 Whither sF / Wither sF 146
ConClusion 181
Notes 187
Glossary of Chinese Terms 211
Bibliography 217
Index 243
ACknowledgments
When I first began research for this project as a PhD student at UCLA,
I was under the impression that I would be able to cover the entire
twentieth century and that the paucity of available materials would
mean that the decisions about what to include and what to exclude had
already been made for me. As I neared completion of the dissertation,
my adviser confessed to me that when I had originally proposed the
project, he had thought it was not feasible at all. I am eternally grate-
ful to him for having the patience and wisdom to let me find out the
answer to this question on my own. In the intervening years, I think
that it is safe to say that both of us have been proven wrong. Chinese
science fiction has emerged as a field in its own right, with scholars
producing research and translation at a breakneck pace. This research
continues to expand the field of Chinese science fiction, examining its
relationship to China’s own literary canon and to science fiction as a
global phenomenon.
I would like to thank North Carolina State University and UCLA for
supporting this research from its earliest stages up through publica-
tion. Travel and research funding from North Carolina State Univer-
sity, which allowed me to conduct research at libraries in Beijing and
Shanghai, and a dissertation- year fellowship from UCLA and a Distin-
guished Teaching Assistant fellowship were especially helpful. I owe
special debts to Theodore Huters, David Schaberg, Jack Chen, Shu-
mei Shih, Andrea Goldman, and Robert Chi for their mentorship dur-
ing my PhD studies. I also owe a great debt to Paola Iovene for her
careful review of my dissertation, which played a significant role in the
revisions that went into this manuscript. I am grateful to Carlos Rojas,
Andrea Bachner, Chris Hamm, and Eileen Chow for their mentorship
and support, especially in presenting and revising various versions of
chapter 5 at Duke University for the Oxford Handbook of Modern Chi-
nese Literature and for the Triangle East Asia Colloquium. Song Ming-
wei and Wu Yan have also been particularly crucial mentors in guiding
vii
Acknowledgments
me through the field of Chinese science fiction. Jennifer Feeley, Sarah
Wells, and all the panelists at the 2011 “Visions of the Future: Global
Science Fiction Cinema” conference in Iowa City, Iowa, were instru-
mental in convincing me that truly interdisciplinary work was worth
the toil. I am also grateful for the support and encouragement of my
graduate cohort at UCLA: David Hull, Maura Dykstra, CedarBough T.
Saeji, Brian Bernards, Jennifer T. Johnson, Matthew Cochran, Aynne
Kokas, Winnie Chang, Hanmo Chang, Ma Lujing, and Makiko Mori.
In China, I would also like thank Li Guangyi, Ren Dongmei, and Jia
Liyuan for their guidance and support.
I would also like to express my sincerest appreciation to the review-
ers of my articles and book manuscript. Thanks are also due to Arthur
Evans, Parker Smathers, and the rest of the staff at Wesleyan Univer-
sity Press for their guidance, expertise, and support through the pro-
cess of writing and revision.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my wonderful and
supportive wife, Kaori Isaacson, and our two children, Kenzo and Ka-
rina, for their patience during the past years. My father and mother,
Ken and Martha Isaacson, my brother and sister, Tyler and Natasha,
continue to be an inspiration as well. This book is dedicated to them.
viii
Celestial empire
