Exploring the Future of Beijing Through Hao Jingfang’s Award-Winning Novelette
In the not-too-distant future, Beijing transforms to manage its burgeoning population. The city adopts a novel approach, creating a tri-tiered society based on socioeconomic status. This innovative structure is designed to cycle through three layers every 48 hours, meticulously distributing time, sunlight, and fresh air among the inhabitants while the remaining two layers are put to sleep. The distribution allows the first layer 24 hours of wakefulness, the second 16 hours, and the third, which includes over 50 million underprivileged labourers, a mere 8 hours.
At the heart of this narrative is Lao Dao, a waste worker consigned to the night shift, embodying the struggles of the lower echelon. Driven by the desire to afford kindergarten tuition for his child, Lao Dao embarks on a perilous journey through the societal strata.
Hao Jingfang: Illuminating Socio-Economic Disparities
This novelette won the Hugo award for best novelette in 2016. Hao Jingfang (b. 1984) wrote the story to illustrate the increasing socio-economic disparity in our technological age. It is a reflection on a society that shows an increasing individualistic tendency to live in separate technological bubbles. As she mentions in an interview with the NYT:
“This story illustrates the idea that people live together but can’t see one another. I want people to realize that there are so many invisible people in their lives”
This increasing sense of estrangement and disillusionment with a digital era that, ironically, increasingly revolves around connectivity is a common theme in other New Wave Science Fiction stories as well; see for instance the works of Chen Qiufan: Fish of Lijiang & Coming of the Light.
A Reflection on Contemporary China
Folding Beijing blurs the line between reality and fiction by reflecting on prevalent issues in contemporary China such as wealth inequality, the tough conditions and insecurities for migrant workers, and the cutthroat competition to get ‘the best’ education for your child.
Hao Jingfang has a background in physics and economics and has written many short stories and novels. She is the founder of Tongxing academy, a public welfare education initiative focused on teaching science, technology and arts to children who don’t have the financial means to receive such education. Her oeuvre, while hard to pigeonhole, is a testament to her unique perspective, shaped by everyday observations and a deep understanding of societal undercurrents. “Vagabonds” (流浪苍穹), her latest novel, further explores the dichotomy between capitalism and communism, cementing her status as a visionary in contemporary literature.
Discover “Folding Beijing”
For those intrigued by Jingfang’s vision, “Folding Beijing” is available in the anthology “Invisible Planets” (2016), curated and translated by Ken Liu. This collection is a gateway to understanding not just Jingfang’s world but the broader nuances of modern Chinese science fiction.
