I Do Hope the Real Future Will Be Brighter

Well, I’m so glad that I can stand here. It’s my great honor to win this award. I first would like to thank Ken Liu, who is a great translator of my story. And I would like to thank Lynn and Michael of the Uncanny magazine who published my story. And I would like to thank everybody who voted for me. Thank you very much! I’m not going to say that I’m very surprised at this prize because I already expected it for this scenario. Well, it doesn’t mean that I’m very proud and I think I’m better than all other people. The truth is that I also expected another scenario that I’m not winning. I registered for a party called “Hugo Loser’s Party” after the ceremony, held by one of my favorite writers. Actually, I almost can’t decide which scenario I’m more looking forward to. Science fiction writers love to expect all possibilities, whether they are good or bad, it’s likely or unlikely. Sometimes, you will hear the science fiction writers talk about the strategies to face aliens on the dining table seriously. We just live in all possible scenarios. We live in all the parallel universes. Back to my story, Folding Beijing. I also give a scenario of a possible future. All humans nowadays have to face the problems of automation, the technological development, unemployment, and also inequality and other issues. In my story, I give one of the solutions, a quite dark one. Obviously, it’s not the optimal one. However, it’s not the worst one. At least in my stories, people don’t have to starve to death, and the government doesn’t send the poor young people to the war field, which always happen in reality. I don’t know what will happen in the true future, but I do hope that the real future will be brighter than in my story. Thanks to everyone. Thanks to my husband, my parents, my daughter, and also my friends for all the support you have brought me all these years. You are my strength and my endless love. Thank you!