Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

KEYNOTE Yuqin Jiang is Professor of Comparative Literature, at the School of Humanities, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen. Her research interests span cyborg narrative, sci-fi poetics, digital humanities, science fiction, postcolonial literature, and cultural theories. She is currently leading a Nation...

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Main Author: Yuqin Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: White Rose University Press 2024-12-01
Series:Writing Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature
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Online Access:https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/87
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author Yuqin Jiang
author_facet Yuqin Jiang
author_sort Yuqin Jiang
collection DOAJ
description KEYNOTE Yuqin Jiang is Professor of Comparative Literature, at the School of Humanities, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen. Her research interests span cyborg narrative, sci-fi poetics, digital humanities, science fiction, postcolonial literature, and cultural theories. She is currently leading a National Social Science Fund project titled "Cyborg Narrative and the Construction of 21st-Century Science Fiction Poetics". She has recently edited significant works: The New Integration of Science and Technology with Humanities: Research on Science Fiction in the Perspective of New Liberal Arts (Nanjing University Press, 2024) and Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction Writes (Nanjing University Press, 2023).Additionally, she has published over 50 essays in both domestic and international journals, exploring topics such as cyborg theory, postcolonial ecocriticism, science fiction studies, cultural criticism, and English literature, establishing herself as a leading voice in the field of science fiction and comparative literature. ABSTRACT Contemporary Chinese cyborg narratives highlight the characteristics of Chinese science fiction. This is manifested in three specific ways: first, the high-tech anti-hero narrative, which expresses the concerns of Chinese science fiction writers about the conflict between humans and machines and their worries about the future society of artificial intelligence; second, the exploration of the cyborg image in ancient Chinese thinking and concepts, using dreams to connect the relationship between humans and machines and to ponder the nature of humanity; and third, to use the cyborg as a cultural practice and social adjustment for human alienation, and to place it in the context of Chinese history and culture to rethink the relationship between past and present, tradition and modernity, and human and non-human, and to attempt to achieve a new balance in the relationship between humans and machines and a stable future.
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spelling doaj-art-c3afddb3ff3248c1b478aecc395a905f2025-08-20T02:11:50ZengWhite Rose University PressWriting Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature2633-88152024-12-0131223210.22599/wcj.8764Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science FictionYuqin Jiang0Shenzhen UniversityKEYNOTE Yuqin Jiang is Professor of Comparative Literature, at the School of Humanities, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen. Her research interests span cyborg narrative, sci-fi poetics, digital humanities, science fiction, postcolonial literature, and cultural theories. She is currently leading a National Social Science Fund project titled "Cyborg Narrative and the Construction of 21st-Century Science Fiction Poetics". She has recently edited significant works: The New Integration of Science and Technology with Humanities: Research on Science Fiction in the Perspective of New Liberal Arts (Nanjing University Press, 2024) and Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction Writes (Nanjing University Press, 2023).Additionally, she has published over 50 essays in both domestic and international journals, exploring topics such as cyborg theory, postcolonial ecocriticism, science fiction studies, cultural criticism, and English literature, establishing herself as a leading voice in the field of science fiction and comparative literature. ABSTRACT Contemporary Chinese cyborg narratives highlight the characteristics of Chinese science fiction. This is manifested in three specific ways: first, the high-tech anti-hero narrative, which expresses the concerns of Chinese science fiction writers about the conflict between humans and machines and their worries about the future society of artificial intelligence; second, the exploration of the cyborg image in ancient Chinese thinking and concepts, using dreams to connect the relationship between humans and machines and to ponder the nature of humanity; and third, to use the cyborg as a cultural practice and social adjustment for human alienation, and to place it in the context of Chinese history and culture to rethink the relationship between past and present, tradition and modernity, and human and non-human, and to attempt to achieve a new balance in the relationship between humans and machines and a stable future.https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/87chinese contemporary science fictioncyborg narrativeanti-heronature of humanitythe cyborg image as a superhuman
spellingShingle Yuqin Jiang
Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
Writing Chinese: A Journal of Contemporary Sinophone Literature
chinese contemporary science fiction
cyborg narrative
anti-hero
nature of humanity
the cyborg image as a superhuman
title Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_full Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_fullStr Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_full_unstemmed Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_short Anti-heroic figures, Dream Boxes, and the Search for the Nature of Humanity: A Cyborg Narrative in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_sort anti heroic figures dream boxes and the search for the nature of humanity a cyborg narrative in contemporary chinese science fiction
topic chinese contemporary science fiction
cyborg narrative
anti-hero
nature of humanity
the cyborg image as a superhuman
url https://account.writingchinesejournal.org/index.php/wr-j-wcajcsl/article/view/87
work_keys_str_mv AT yuqinjiang antiheroicfiguresdreamboxesandthesearchforthenatureofhumanityacyborgnarrativeincontemporarychinesesciencefiction