Once again Storycom is encouraging Chinese fans to take an active part in the Worldcons — with its third Worldcon Attending Fund for Chinese Fans, offering two grants for Chinese conrunners to attend Dublin 2019.
In order to encourage Chinese fans to take an active part in Worldcons and enhance the communication between Chinese and international fandom, Storycom sets up this Worldcon Attending Fund under the scheme of Shimmer Program. Two active Chinese fans will be selected and granted RMB 10,000 each, for their attendance in and work for Dublin 2019 – An Irish Worldcon, which will be held in Dublin in August 2019. The beneficiaries should buy attending memberships for Dublin 2019, book their trip, as well as apply for visa by themselves, with the help of Storycom. The beneficiaries should also volunteer to work for Dublin 2019, be administrators of the future Worldcon Attending Fund and promise to take active part in attending and organizing both domestic and international science fiction activities in the future.
Some of the Shimmer Program grant eligibility requirements are:
- The applicant must be a Chinese citizen and live in mainland China.
- The applicant should promise that he/she will help with future Chinese Worldcon bid if there is any.
- The applicant’s English proficiency should meet the requirements of working for Worldcon 76.
Judging the applications will be . Colin Zhang, the winner of Worldcon 75 Attending Funding (2017) & Hospitality Deputy Division Head of Worldcon 75, and Tammy Coxen, Division Head of Member and Staff Services of Dublin 2019.
This year’s winners, Sharon Shi and Mackenzie Lin, attended and worked on Worldcon 76. Their travel reports are in Chinese — but illustrated with many photos from the con.
- “Broaden The Boundary of Imagination: The Interesting People Never Say Goodbye” by Sharon Shi: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KZs74tY0fpPP-TuUXIHSHA
- “If We Hadn’t Met” by Mackenzie Lin: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/N-lA5BqOi_nCLVc1OWjx8g
Full requirements and application guidelines are available at the link.
[Thanks to Regina Kanyu Wang for the story.]
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Google translate did an okay job on those. Not perfect, of course. But the happiness and excitement shone through.
The big problem for any possible Chinese convention is that the government has banned movies dealing with time travel, because any regime before the Communists took over in 1949 is counter-revolutionary.
Then there’s the thought of any Western fan or programming raising anything to do with Tiananmen Square. Talk about forbidden topics!
If that’s true, why do they support historical epics?
That’s not to say I’d be willing to vote for a Worldcon there under the current regime, just that the above seems like something Snopes would take down.
Yeah, Google translate is iffy in spots but I enjoyed both reports. Even the bits that it clearly flubbed completely added a bit of fun wondering what the real meaning might be.
Chip Hitchcock: That sounded familiar, and here’s the post I ran, which was based on a story in The Hollywood Reporter — China Bans Time Travel Films. So if you’re checking Snopes, that will give you more to run with.
I am fascinated by what “The whole picture has a subtle sense of harmony, which is described in four words: yellow hair coveted.” is supposed to mean.