Chinese Climate Fiction: Meet Author Chen Qiufan

20.04.2023 16:15 - 17:15English

How do science-fiction authors in China envision our future in the era of climate change?

Photo: Dmitry Ganin

China has pledged to peak its carbon emissions by 2030, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. International media have reported extensively about these goals and the challenges related to them. Xi Jinping’s grand vision of a socio-ecological sustainability, an ecological civilization, has also sparked wide curiosity.

With all eyes on the government, few people outside China know the (alternative) future visions created by Chinese artists and fictional writers.

This panel brings Chinese climate fiction to Norway. Our three guests will discuss the role of science fiction in Chinese climate change discourses, its reception in Chinese society, and its potential impact on global visions of climate change.

The event is organised as part of a master seminar in Chinese on Intercultural Competences at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. Håvard Kristiansen and Regine Xia Sylta Paulsen, currently master students of Chinese, will lead through the event.

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Event info.

Bergen Global
Jekteviksbakken 31, Bergen

20.04.2023
16:15 - 17:15
English
Department of Foreign Languages, UiB Add to calendar 20.04.2023, 20.04.2023

Digital participation

Please register for online participation

Chen Qiufan
Author, Author

Chen Qiufan, also known as Stanley Chen, is a Chinese science-fiction author.

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Image missing Emily Jin
Emily Jin
PhD Candidate, Yale

Emily Jin is PhD Candidate in East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale and a fantasy and climate fiction translator. She has translated several of Chen Qiufan’s works.

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Image missing Jessica Imbach
Jessica Imbach
Postdoctoral researcher, University of Zurich

Jessica Imbach works as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich. In her research she focuses on Chinese science fiction.

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Julia Marinaccio
Postdoctoral Fellow, UiB

Julia Marinaccio is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. Her previous research focused on environmental governance in China.

Read more

Chen Qiufan

Author, Author
By Scifivan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40174384

Chen Qiufan, also known as Stanley Chen, is a Chinese science-fiction author.

His debut novel “The Waste Tide” transports the town Guiyu’s disturbing reality into a dystopian future. It has been translated into several language including English, German, and Italian. In addition, Stanley has written a series of short stories and his most recent book Net Zero China is a science fiction novel for adolescents. Its protagonist travels through time to the year 2060, the year when Xi Jinping’s pledge should come to fruition.

Emily Jin

PhD Candidate, Yale

Emily Jin is PhD Candidate in East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale and a fantasy and climate fiction translator. She has translated several of Chen Qiufan’s works.

Jessica Imbach

Postdoctoral researcher, University of Zurich

Jessica Imbach works as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich. In her research she focuses on Chinese science fiction.

See personal page.

Julia Marinaccio

Postdoctoral Fellow, UiB

Julia Marinaccio is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. Her previous research focused on environmental governance in China.

See personal page.

Bergen Global is a joint initiative between the University of Bergen and Chr. Michelsen Institute that addresses global challenges.