I have found contemporary Chinese science fiction to be an interesting blend of the 21st century world with golden-age speculative concepts. But the last thing I expected with Vagabonds was a dystopia. Now, I’m aware that the meaning of dystopia has evolved in recent decades to assume a violent setting formed after a catastrophic collapse of social norms through nuclear war, asteroid, climate change, pandemic, or some other disaster. But originally, dystopia meant a failed utopia – such as Brave New World and 1984 – and that is the sort this is. Vagabonds is set on two planets – Earth and Mars. Earth is a materialistic society where art is commerce and commerce is art. Mars sees itself as above all that, in that everyone expresses their artistic vision without concern for marketability. But in accomplishing that freedom, it has become rigid, conformist, and unfree on other matters of self-determination, particularly the allocation of housing and resources. It is a crystalized society rather than fluid.
A group of young Martian students has been sent to Earth for five years, as part of a cultural exchange between worlds 20 years after Mars’ war of independence. They are in space on their trip home at the opening of the novel. The perspective character is Luoying Sloan, the now 18-year old granddaughter of Mars’ Consul. She has spent her years on Earth pursuing dance, which is quite different due to the gravitational fields of the two planets. Luoying has been kept profoundly ignorant of important information in the history of her own world and family, and I sometimes found her to be irritatingly naive and aimless. For example, she confides in an elder confidante “Why is it that some people are always around, but I don’t feel close to them? Why is that some other people are rarely with me, but I feel their warmth every moment?” Hardly a deep question. And yet, she is also able to quote word-for-word an extended lecture at the Symposium on the Future of Humanity from years earlier, that springs into social exposition of planetary cultures.
The contrasting and interacting societies of the two worlds reminded me of the structure of LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. Hao’s theme relates to generational cycles of social revolution. Each visionary revolution resets the balance of justice, but then succumbs to human nature and authoritarianism. Is it just youth itself, and the desire to be part of a movement towards justice that motivates, rather than any particular social philosophy? Given the 20th and 21st century history of China, this seems a relevant question.
Vagabonds is a literarily ambitious novel; there are abundant references to some of the great works of Western literature. The text is lucidly translated with fascinating imagery, and I had no problem of understanding. But I found the opening to be slow paced, and the ending to be disjointed. Approaching the end, side-characters come to the foreground, taking surprising yet critical actions, which underscored for me their inadequate prior development. If some of the attention heaped upon Luoying in the beginning had instead been shared among the entire cast of characters this would be a more impressive work. Still, I found it an interesting read, and it is possible that some of my issues are due to cultural differences. I recommend it for English language readers interested in growing their understanding of Chinese science fiction.
Hao Jingfang is a Chinese science fiction writer, whose novelette “Folding Beijing” won the 2016 Hugo Award. Vagabonds was her first and only novel, published in China in 2011. The German translation Wandernde Himmel was released in 2018, and now Ken Liu’s English translation is forthcoming. Ken Liu is a significant American science fiction writer in his own right. I received this advance reader copy from Saga Press, for purposes of reading and publishing a review on my blog and other social media. It is due to be published April 14, 2020.
A group of young Martian students has been sent to Earth for five years, as part of a cultural exchange between worlds 20 years after Mars’ war of independence. They are in space on their trip home at the opening of the novel. The perspective character is Luoying Sloan, the now 18-year old granddaughter of Mars’ Consul. She has spent her years on Earth pursuing dance, which is quite different due to the gravitational fields of the two planets. Luoying has been kept profoundly ignorant of important information in the history of her own world and family, and I sometimes found her to be irritatingly naive and aimless. For example, she confides in an elder confidante “Why is it that some people are always around, but I don’t feel close to them? Why is that some other people are rarely with me, but I feel their warmth every moment?” Hardly a deep question. And yet, she is also able to quote word-for-word an extended lecture at the Symposium on the Future of Humanity from years earlier, that springs into social exposition of planetary cultures.
The contrasting and interacting societies of the two worlds reminded me of the structure of LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. Hao’s theme relates to generational cycles of social revolution. Each visionary revolution resets the balance of justice, but then succumbs to human nature and authoritarianism. Is it just youth itself, and the desire to be part of a movement towards justice that motivates, rather than any particular social philosophy? Given the 20th and 21st century history of China, this seems a relevant question.
Vagabonds is a literarily ambitious novel; there are abundant references to some of the great works of Western literature. The text is lucidly translated with fascinating imagery, and I had no problem of understanding. But I found the opening to be slow paced, and the ending to be disjointed. Approaching the end, side-characters come to the foreground, taking surprising yet critical actions, which underscored for me their inadequate prior development. If some of the attention heaped upon Luoying in the beginning had instead been shared among the entire cast of characters this would be a more impressive work. Still, I found it an interesting read, and it is possible that some of my issues are due to cultural differences. I recommend it for English language readers interested in growing their understanding of Chinese science fiction.
Hao Jingfang is a Chinese science fiction writer, whose novelette “Folding Beijing” won the 2016 Hugo Award. Vagabonds was her first and only novel, published in China in 2011. The German translation Wandernde Himmel was released in 2018, and now Ken Liu’s English translation is forthcoming. Ken Liu is a significant American science fiction writer in his own right. I received this advance reader copy from Saga Press, for purposes of reading and publishing a review on my blog and other social media. It is due to be published April 14, 2020.