Counter-discourses to social inequalities and urban modernity: Subaltern women in post-2000s Chinese science fiction

ABSTRACT

The issues of resurgent class and gender inequalities, rapid urbanization, and huge regional disparity were a notable focus of many post-2000s Chinese science fiction, which vividly created images of subaltern females. This paper looks at how contemporary Chinese sci-fi authors seek social justice by representing the experiences of various subaltern women within the specific genre of science fiction. It argues that the images of socially and culturally marginalized women were used as effective tools for questioning the intersectional social inequalities in contemporary China. The works discussed in this article all problematize the nature and influences of urban modernity by revealing the intersections, tensions, and contradictions between subaltern women and the classed, gendered modernization process. The sci-fi realist portrayal of subaltern agency and gender struggle also helps to generate powerful counter-discourses to urban modernity and technological utopia.

ABSTRACT IN CHINESE

很多发表于2000年后的中国科幻小说生动地创造出各种底层女性形象，以关注和讨论复苏的阶级和性别不平等、快速的城市化，以及巨大的地区差异等重要社会议题。本文探当代中国科幻作家如何借助科幻小说这种独特文体再现不同底层女性的经验，以寻求社会公正。我们认为，在社会和文化上被边缘化的女性形象在此被用以质疑当代中国交叉性的社会不平等。本文讨论的几部代表性作品皆通过揭示底层女性与阶级化、性别化的现代化进程之间的交织、紧张和矛盾，将城市现代性的性质和影响问题化。而作品中对底层能动性和性别抗争的科幻现实主义式的描绘，也有助于产生有力的对城市现代性和技术乌托邦的对抗性话语。

KEYWORDS:

• Social inequalities
• urban modernity
• technological utopia
• subaltern women
• Chinese science fiction
• subaltern agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Relevant works include Liu Weija’s (b. 1974) “Come See the Paradise” (Laikan tiantang, 2000), Hao Jingfang’s (b. 1984) “Folding Beijing” (Beijing zhedie, 2014), Wang Weilian’s (b. 1982) “Wild Future” (Ye weilai, 2021) and Chen Qiufan’s Waste Tide (Huangchao, 2013).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University: [Grant Number RDF-20-02-01].

Notes on contributors

Danxue Zhou

Danxue Zhou is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of China Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Her research project focuses on contemporary Chinese science fiction from a spatial perspective, particularly exploring its relationship with the development of urbanization and modernization in China. Her research interests encompass contemporary Chinese science fiction, feminism, and literary geography.

Xi Liu

Xi Liu (corresponding author) is Associate Professorat the Dept. of China Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Her main research fields are Chinese literature and Chinese women’s studies. Her research articles appeared in journals including Journal of Gender Studies, SFRA Review, Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, and Frontiers of Literary Studies in China. She has published two monographs on Chinese literary and gender studies and has co-edited one volume on cultural studies of contemporary Northeast China.