介绍:
What's the first thing that comes to your mind at the mention of Beijing?
The hustle-bustle capital of one of the world's largest economies? Or the ancient city whose history could be dated back to three thousand years?
Yet in Hao Jingfang's short story, Folding Beijing, or "Bei Jing Zhe Die" in Chinese, the author depicts the city as a rotating and highly hierarchical society.
Here is an excerpt from the novelette, translated by American award-winning sci-fi writer Ken Liu.
Set in a fictional future, the story focuses on the unlikely adventure of a waste processing worker. Born and raised in the Third Space of Beijing, the protagonist Lao Dao has always stayed in his place and has neither desire nor ambition to go elsewhere. Until one day, strapped for cash to support his adopted daughter's education in a decent kindergarten, this meek, humble middle-aged man runs the risk of sneaking into other spaces, a crime that will result in months-long imprisonment.
Deviating from her usual poetic and artistic sentiment, Hao Jingfang depicts Lao Dao's experience in a rather calm and composed manner, as our main character slinks into the elite-exclusive First Space to deliver a message from a love-struck young man in the Second Space.
Following Lao Dao's not-so-eventful errand, readers could take a glimpse into the mind-sets and perspectives of different classes and experience the underlying stark unfairness and inequality of the social pyramid. By the end of the story, through Lao Dao's tired eyes, we discover the cold, hard truth that the manual waste processing business, commonly regarded as the pillar industry of Third Space, could be easily replaced by machinery. The sole purpose of its existence is to tackle the overpopulation and unemployment.
Sound familiar?
The author admits that she found her inspiration from real life.
"When I see a taxi driver on the street, I can't help myself but wonder what would happen, if people like him and the upper class are segregated on purpose. That's why I wrote 'Folding Beijing'. It's not born out of pure imagination. It's a story based on my deductions. The inspiration comes from my observation of reality. However, my story is not an authentic report of what I have witnessed. After all, it's a rendered fiction. "
For people who expect intense collision between the haves and have-nots, Folding Beijing might be a disappointment, since its tone is far too lukewarm and quiet. In the story, after the conversation with Lao Ge, a security director who climbed the social ladder from the Third Space, our protagonist Lao Dao realizes that his world is invisible to the privileged and his life is insignificant. Yet, there is no brutal unrest or brewing rebellion after this huge revelation. Instead of becoming a potential subversive, Lao Dao goes back home and continues his mundane routine, echoing with what Lao Ge once said: "There are many things in life we can't change, and all we can do is to accept and endure."
That's probably the reason why Folding Beijing has caused quite a stir after winning the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Some argue that the mechanics of this soft-dystopia tale are all-too-human and realistic, which makes it unfitting to be recognized as a science fiction.
But in the eyes of Sarah Pinsker, American multi-award winning sci-fi writer, the definition of the genre should not be one-fold.
"I think those questions are always been asked. Is it science fiction? This is too much science and this is not enough science. Every story has its critics and not every story is for every reader. But I don't see how you can argue that story isn't science fiction. It has robots and self-driving carriages. It has a city that folds. I think those are indisputable. There are lots of stories that are far more borderline than that. "
But what sort of message does Hao Jingfang want to deliver?
The author did give the answer at the Hugo Awards ceremony.
"We just live in all possible scenarios. We live in all the paralleled universes. Back to my story, Folding Beijing, I also give a scenario of a possible future. All human 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 also not the worst one. At least in my stories,people do not have to starve to death, and the government do(does) not send the poor young people to the war field, which always happen(s) in the reality. I don't know what will happen in the true future. But I do hope that the real future will be brighter than my story. "
Well, let's cross our fingers and hope "Folding Beijing" stays fictional.
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