The Chengdu Worldcon committee has released its program schedule. The English language version can be downloaded here.
The schedule lists only the titles of program items, not the participants, with the exception of the signing sessions.
And it is noteworthy that guests of honor Liu Cixin and Robert J. Sawyer are scheduled for solo signing sessions – but not Sergey Lukyanenko, who also is not named in the related news article as one of the “prominent guests” who will attend, adding more fuel to speculation about whether he will be at the convention.
[Thanks to Juli Marr for the story.]
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Just checking the box.
Because it seemed worth checking – Lukyanenko is not listed on the Chinese version of the news release, either. (Per Google Translate anyway.)
Not much online. With the lockdowns and other difficulties, I chose not to go to China so I hope some of this is recorded for later viewing, including the business meeting, Future Worldcons Q and A, Hugo Awards, any costume contest.
Seems like the only virtual panels will start at midnight (or later) on the U.S. Pacific Coast. sigh.
Linda:
I will be taking equipment for recording the Business Meeting, so assuming the tech works, we’ll have it up on the Worldcon Events Channel when we can. (That might not be until I get home, though.) Whether the Hugo Awards will be online or recorded, I don’t know yet. I hope so.
Meredith: And to date he’s said nothing about it on his social media.
I see there are a few events at the Sheraton across the lake that’s reportedly 11 minutes away by bicycle. In fairness, maybe about half of them look “businessy”, and possibly of minimal interest to a lot of fans. It’s also where the con parties are being held, although that doesn’t surprise me, as I’ve not seen any mention of what food or drink facilities are available at the main venue.
I also note the WSFS business meeting is listed as being at the “World Science Fiction Park Meteor Museum”. I’m not sure what or where that is.
It’s worth noting that the news article on the Chinese version of the con website is quite a bit longer than the English language page, although I don’t think there’s anything new or surprising in it. Whilst it does talk about the lottery for the three main ceremonies, it doesn’t give any more info than what I’ve already seen published in Weibo posts etc.
It does go over some of the events, but – and this might be the effect of Google Translate – it seems to be bland corporate speak with little useful information. All of the western speakers who are named – Robert Sawyer, Richard Taylor, Neil Clarke, Ben Yalow – are people we already knew were going or involved in the event.
I look forward to watching whatever I can that is streamed out or (even better) recorded. And (fingers crossed) one of those is the results of Seattle winning the 2025 bid 🙂
I was definitely hoping for more being online given what we’ve been able to do in the last few years.
If any costume event is held and recorded, the ICG would certainly appreciate a copy: photo and/or video.
If I know anything about Chinese fandom, this convention is going to be the most streamed, online, recorded in the history of the world. The question is how it can be captured and curated for the benefit of us and posterity. Personally, now that technology enables it, I’d like to watch the “fan edits.”
Brian Z on October 5, 2023 at 7:16 pm said:
Well, as I will be in China but will not have a computer with me, if the Business Meeting is streamed, I’d appreciate someone recording the streams if they can, just in case there is some hitch with those of us trying to do the official recording.
The Business Meetings are scheduled for 10:00 AM China Standard Time on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and (if necessary) Sunday of the convention. Remember to check what time that is where you are.
Reflecting a bit, I feel like two weeks out is an awfully short lead time to release the program. I also have skimmed the whole thing and I see nothing particularly socially challenging – no queer topics, no poverty, limited content about non-Chinese and non-Western SFF… Not that I expected anything challenging, mind you, but it’s disappointing to be right.
Godstalk (just for old times’ sake)
Looking at the schedule now, there are only 3 items per day, in two time slots, listed specifically as online. Perhaps more than that will be streamed.