China + 100 Book launch (Leeds)

What might China look like in the year 2119 – a century after the first outbreak of Covid-19?

This was the question posed by editor Xueting C. Ni to ten leading Chinese science fiction writers at the start of Comma Press’s new anthology China +100.

Please join us for an afternoon co-hosted by our Centre and the East Asian Research Society exploring the book and its themes, including readings from two of the anthology’s authors – Anna Wu (Wu Shuang) and Dan Shi, visiting from China courtesy of the Confucius Institute at Manchester University – followed by a panel discussion with the writers and the book’s editor Xueting C. Ni.

Expect stories of future pandemics, love between scientists and surprising new vaccines, as well as a wide-ranging discussion of the book’s creation and its place in the wider context of contemporary Chinese science fiction. Followed by an audience Q&A.

About the Book

China + 100 poses a simple question to ten Chinese writers: what might your country look like in the year 2119? How might the legacy of Covid-19 – which triggered a global health crisis – reach across a century of technological progress, social engineering, and medical advances, to shape the country and its people? Will the lessons of the pandemic have been learned? Will the people’s trust in science have been repaired? Featuring stories by Lu Hang, Zhou Dedong, Ling Chen , Dan Shi , He Xi & He Zun, Anna Wu, Tang Fei, Zhao Haihong , Yimei Tangguo and Chen Qiufan, with translations by Xueting C. Ni, Jack Hargreaves, Yahia Ma, Gigi Chang, Christopher MacDonald, Judith Huang, Andrew Rule and Mel Etvolare Lee.

About the Speakers

Xueting C. Ni has written extensively on China’s cultures and its place in the Western consciousness. Her nonfiction titles include From Kuanyin to Chairman Mao: An Essential Guide to Chinese Deities (Weiser Books) and Chinese Myths (Amber Books). She is the curator of two definitive anthologies of Chinese genre writing in translation: Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction and Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror (both published by Solaris).

Anna Wu (Wu Shuang 吴霜) is a writer of science fiction for both the page and screen. Her film script, Cloud and Mist, won the Gold Medal of Originality for the Best Science Fiction Film of the Sixth Chinese Nebula Awards. As translator, Anna's work includes stories for the science fiction collection, The Shape of Thought, by Ken Liu. Her novella collection, Twins was published in June of 2017.

Dan Shi 但适 is an emerging voice in Chinese feminist science fiction who has published numerous pieces in the Chinese edition of Galaxy’s Edge, an Eastern Wood anthology, and other platforms. Her short story ‘The Twelve-Piece Puzzle’ was selected for Best Chinese Science Fiction of 2024, edited and published by Science Fiction World.

Everyone is welcome -- the event will be mainly in English (with interpreting if needed). Tea/coffee available from 3pm. Please sign up for tickets above so we know numbers -- note that the info will be shared with Comma Press.