New Wonders of a Nonbinary Universe: The Rise of the She-Sci-Fi in China
Can we read Liu Cixin as a nonbinary writer? This talk evokes a speculation concerning the SF genre and its gender, with a view toward recognizing a nonbinary vision of the Neo-Baroque that has emerged in Chinese SF, particularly in the post-new wave She-SF. Does science fiction have gender? Traditional SF definitions are often based upon a binary differentiation. Liu Cixin is called “Big Liu,” writing “Hard SF,” and his space saga is often interpreted with references to the autistics of the sublime. But after the success of Liu Cixin’s Three Body Novels, I have seen the rise of a newest generation of women and nonbinary authors, such as Tang Fei 糖匪 (b. 1983), Wang Kanyu 王侃瑜 (b. 1990), Peng Simeng 彭思萌 (b. 1990), and Liao Shubo 廖舒波 (b. 1988). This talk tries to redefine SF from a nonbinary point of view and proposes to read Chinese new wave and She-SF as a break with the old-fashioned dualist thinking and mimetic realism.

Mingwei Song is Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Wellesley College.
Date: 8 June 2022, 17:00 (Wednesday, 7th week, Trinity 2022)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker: Professor Mingwei Song (Wellesley College)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organiser: Dr Pamela Hunt (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: pamela.hunt@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Pamela Hunt (University of Oxford)
Part of: Restless China: Mobility in Literature, Art and Film
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard