INTRODUCTION: Eight Light Minutes(8LM) Culture of Chengdu has given permission for File 770 to reprint the series of interviews with Chinese science fiction writers which they have been running this week on Facebook. The third in the series is a question and answer session with He Xi, whose “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet” is a finalist for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella. He Xi was also a co-chair of the Chengdu Worldcon.

SUPPORTING CHINESE WRITERS SERIES: 2024 HUGO AWARD NOMINATION INTERVIEW WITH HE XI

Translated by Joseph Brant.

He Xi 何夕, real name He Hongwei, was born in December 1971, and has been a science fiction fan since childhood. He began writing Sci-fi as a hobbyist in 1991, with stories focus on exploring the future of macro-sciences and human nature. He is now a member of the Chinese Writers’ Association and the Sichuan Writers’ Association. His works include The Other Realm, Six Paths of Being, and The Heartbreaker. Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet is shortlisted for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Q1｜On The Afternoon (UK time) of the 29th of March , the 2024 Hugo shortlists were announced, including the works of five Chinese authors (as well as their relevant translators). Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet was shortlisted for Best Novella, alongside Wang Jinkang’s “Seeds Of Mercury”. This was a fantastic surprise for your readers, and we would like to congratulate you on the Nomination. How do you feel about being Shortlisted?

He Xi: I learned the news by email from the Hugo Award Committee, and felt both happy, and calm. The exchange between Chinese science fiction and the rest of the world is growing closer and closer, and in the future, we’ll see more Chinese Sci-fi in the Hugo Awards.

Q2｜This is an unprecedented moment in the history of the Hugo Awards, where outstanding works from three of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Chinese Sci-fi” have been simultaneously nominated, the fourth, Liu Cixin, having already won a Hugo. Could you explain this phrase ”The Four Heavenly Kings”?

He Xi: China’s sci-fi scene has had a long periodical era, and this phrase may have been in use for almost 20 years. There were certainly other names for the top writers, but this phrase has certainly been the most common. Where it originally came from is hard to say, but it should certainly be taken as high praise from the fans to the authors who were particularly prolific at the time. Personally, I feel it puts the pressure on me to keep writing something worthy of readers’ expectations.

Q3｜The original Chinese version of Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet was published 14 years ago, in 2010. What made this nomination possible? And how do you feel about that?

He Xi: Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet was nominated for its appearance in the book Adventures in Space: New Short Stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers (Published by People’s Literature Publishing House), which collected works in translation by Chinese authors, alongside overseas writers. When the story was first published back in 2010, it won China’s Galaxy Award, as well as a Chinese Nebula Award. Science fiction has an ability to transcend cultural barriers, and resonate with everyone. There are very few good sci-fi translators out there, but I hope that situation will improve in the future.

Q4｜Like much of your work, Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet is popular amongst the domestic audience, and the fact it has been selected for an overseas translation project shows its charm, and classicism, however, Overseas fans may not be familiar with the piece. Could you introduce your story, and tell us some of its inspiration?

He Xi: Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet was written in 2010, and explored the idea that Humans would have to leave the planet, in order to sustain life, but that sort of interstellar migration would inevitably lead to the alienation of humanity. In 2016, Elon Musk famously said “Humans need to be a multiplanet species”, making a similar point from a realistic perspective. The Galapagos Islands, which are only a few tens of kilometres apart, gave Darwin a glimpse of the development, and disconnection of different species in the same region. What would the distance of light years, and the vastly different geographies make of the interstellar migrant humans? Chauvinism, which originally referred to exaggerated patriotism and nationalism, is already part of the space age, and there’s no reason to believe that this notion of “Self-Supremacy” won’t extend to wider areas, and that Human-centricism won’t deepen, in the endless unknown environments of space, which are always accompanied by fear. Earth’s history is full of empires which have strived on aggression and power, that have largely failed, but it is also full of fallen leaders, who remained simple and honest. The call to the stars is irresistible, but on this path, mankind may thrive by its “tyranny”, or perish due to its “kindness”. It’s like facing a multiple choice question without any context. Human intelligence means we’ve begun to understand the structures of universe, but the ‘meaning’ is still closed to us. Perhaps the secrets will be revealed only once we’ve made our decisive choices, but who knows if, by then, there will still be a recogniseable ‘mankind’.

Q5｜Besides being called one of the “Four Heavenly Kings”, you were also once called “The Lyrical Prince” of Chinese Sci-fi, and in Chinese Science Fiction: An Oral History, Dong Renwei calls you “The premier of Romantic Sci-fi”. In short, your work usually has such delicate, and emotive descriptions, as in The Heartbreaker, Love Of Farewells and Pangu, all of which have moved many Chinese Sci-fi fans. Of course, you’ve also stated that the title “The premier of Romantic Sci-fi” is another burden for you to bear, so, what do you consider to be the role of emotion in science fiction, and in the debate between “soft” and “hard” Sci-fi? Is your work “Soft Sci-fi”?

He Xi: Emotions, such as love, friendship, and loss have always been important themes in literature, and science fiction, as part of literature, is certainly no exception. Since depictions of emotions can enhance the captivating nature of sci-fi, and sometimes deepen the thematic content. You mentioned The Heartbreaker for example, which readers say touched them with the depiction of motherly love. In reality, resources are always biased towards the strong, whilst mothers tend to have more compassion towards their weaker children. If scientific research could be compared to children, I hope society can learn from the mother. Here, emotion is no longer a garnish, but an intrinsic part of the story’s theme. I have never felt that the actual difference between “soft” and “hard” sci-fi is great enough to form them into two distinct camps, and that the majority of “Hard Sci-fi” has a much simpler intellectual content than most popular science books. I’m also of the opinion that many works, who’s technology is already very close to our reality, shouldn’t even be classed as sci-fi, like the film Gravity, which would be more accurately be described as a disaster, or survival movie.

Q6｜The plot of Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet contains a number of themes, such as catastrophes on earth, extra-terrestrial exploration, bioethics, and love. May I ask, how do you organically integrate all these, the emotional plots, Sci-fi elements, and deep reflections of technology and ethics, during the creative process?

He Xi: Storytelling, including the oral tradition, has a history of around tens of thousands of years. Science Fiction is a little over 200 years old, but still, in its brief lifespan, it has expanded the boundaries of literature greatly, with most of the areas explored by science fiction never having been touched by traditional literature. I was once asked whether I thought that future technology would change human nature. I answered yes, because so much of our current core humanity, such as loyalty to spouses, love of children, friendship and suspicion between collaborators, are all the result of the technological advances we have made since the age of hunting and gathering. Emotions, technology, and ethics are always intertwined in sci-fi, not because that’s what makes a good story, but because that’s the true nature of humanity in the current technological age.

Q7｜ Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet has been agented by Eight Light Minutes Culture and the film rights were snapped up a few years ago. I also know there were plans to produce a stage play. How are those going? We also hear Shanghai Film Group is interested in developing a series based on your work, and have opened up the licensing of several of your stories in the call for entries for the Global AI short film competition. What are your expectations for film and TV adaptations of your work? Are there any particular stories you want to see brought to the big screen? And what do you think of this current wave of AI creation?

He Xi: As the creator, of course I want my stories to become Film and TV series. Those are, after all, the media with the largest audience, but once you’ve signed over the copyright, the writer themselves don’t really have much say in the adaptation. Personally I’d like to see The Other Side, The Six Paths of Being, Pangu, The Heartbreaker, Life Does Not Allow and Years Of Heaven all make their way onto a screen sooner, rather than later. On the subject of AI, I’m an AI optimist, and personally, I think the threat of AI, or aliens, “actively” seeking to harm the human race is a very primitive fear. AI does not exist in the same ecological niche as humans. To robotic logic, the arid deserts of the Sahara are a better home than any human city, and the moon, or Mars, would be more hospitable than Earth. Food and water, which humans need, are just clutter and hazard to a robot, so from the point of view of competing for survival, robots are unlikely to ‘actively’ hunt us down. There’s also a popular idea about “unintentional harm”, that aliens or robots, with no active attempt to do so, may inadvertently wipe us out in achieving one of their goals. This scenario is practically identical to a natural disaster, such as a star going supernova, and the only way to combat natural disasters, is to enhance the capacity of humanity as a whole, which only AI can help with. There will be a general blurring of AI and humans at some point. Soon, Alzheimer’s patients will be restored to full health by implanted smart devices, and then, we’ll see healthy people implanting devices to improve their intelligence, so it’s almost inevitable. In the way that the Han dynasty chose to merge with the Xiongnu for a lasting peace, the merging of man and machine is also a foregone conclusion. In the future, there’ll be no pure human, or pure machine, the two factions will have long since become one, so why would robots be a threat to humanity?

Q8｜The title of Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet is a reference to a poem by Du Fu, For My Old Friend, Weiba which is also the origin of your pen name. It opens with “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet, Acting the stars of Shen and Shang. So what an evening this evening is, That together we share the light of one lamp?” What influence has classical Chinese literature had on your science fiction career?

He Xi: “What an evening this evening is” comes from the Classic of Poetry which precedes this. I feel lucky to have been born in China, because classical Chinese literature is a cornucopia of creativity. China’s long history, and rich culture contain so much nourishment I can use for my sci-fi.

Q9｜Set aside the lyrical nature of your work, many of them can be considered ‘High Tech Mysteries’, like A Visitor After a Billion Years, and The Darwin Trap, which are similar to the popular fiction of Ni Kuang. What do you think of your writing style?

He Xi: I don’t really think I have a fixed style. As science fiction continues to develop, diversity is an evident trend. Some of my work is in the popular genre of suspense, whilst others are far more works of realism, like The Heartbreaker and my novel Years Of Heaven. The style serves the subject.

Q10｜Science fiction in China has had a very turbulent history, and even Liu Cixin has pessimistically remarked “When science fiction is dying, nobody visits its sickbed” and that “Sci-fi is sailing on a sinking ship”. You yourself have abandoned the genre several times due to changes in your circumstances. How do you judge the current state of sci-fi in China?

He Xi: Actually, Liu Cixin himself said later that the flourishing of Chinese science fiction had altered his view, but in general, sci-fi is not yet fully thriving in China, and only a small number of works and authors gain the public’s attention. Currently the mainstream of Chinese science fiction is mostly concerned with reality, whilst Western Sci-fi explores the ultimate issues, which probably has something to do with the different levels of socio-economic development.

Q11｜What cutting edge technologies interest you at the moment? And what sort of Sci-fi stories do you feel we really need right now?

He Xi: I’m most interested in the areas of science and technology that can bring tangible benefits to a country with a large population, like China. Energy. Food. Important breakthroughs in Medicine, like anti-aging and artificial wombs. As for which kind of sci-fi story is needed right now? I’d say as many different kinds as possible. Sci-fi is supposed to be the freest domain of the imagination, so should be unrestrained.

Q12｜You’ve been living and working in Zigong, Sichuan all along. What sort of place is it? It’s much smaller than Beijing and Shanghai and lacks that cultural atmosphere. What are the advantages and disadvantages for you as a writer, especially 20-30 years ago, when the internet wasn’t so developed?

He Xi: It’s just an ordinary old industrial city, though it’s now known for its dinosaur fossils, and growing Sichuan cuisine industry, but before the internet… Living in a small inland city did affect my creativity. I actually got the internet in the late 90’s, due to the work I used to do, and sci-fi writing in particular requires an understanding of lot of very disparate subjects.

Q13｜What about the way you write now? Do you find that the ways you work and focus different from before?

He Xi: The way I write now is just fine. My biggest problem is time, and the main thing I need to focus on is breaking through to write something new.

Q14｜Science fiction fans are very interested in the Years Of Heaven trilogy of novels you’ve been working on. How is that going? And what do you feel is the biggest difficulty in shifting from short works to novels?

He Xi: Years Of Heaven 2 is almost finished. The sci-fi long form is a difficult genre to work in because it requires a lot of intricate and original science-fictional concepts and ideas, which is completely different conceptually from traditional literature.

Q15｜In Chinese Science Fiction: An Oral History, you mention that print publishing is of the greatest symbolic significance to Chinese science fiction. In the new 2024 China Science Fiction Industry Report, the industry is valued at over 100 billion RMB, but within that, only 3% is from print publication, with the majority coming from games, theme parks, merchandise and movies. What do you think about that phenomenon? Do you play games yourself?

He Xi: the phenomenon has to be accepted. It’s not just a malady of the sci-fi world, since the invention of film and TV, the numbers of people who read for pleasure has decreased. I do play computer games, sometimes, but I feel games are getting bigger and bigger, often needing hundreds of gigabytes of storage to run. The graphics keep getting better and better, but there seem to be fewer excellent titles.

Q16｜Which of your works are your favourite?

He Xi: That’s more appropriate for my readers to answer.

Q17｜As Co-chair of the last Worldcon, held in Chengdu, what do you think about the values of promoting Worldcon and the Hugo Awards in China?

He Xi: Worldcon, held in China in 2023 was a great success, and countless Chinese people outside the Sci-fi circle learned about it, and enjoyed the culture of Science Fiction through The Hugo Awards, A world class Sci-fi award, the resulting positive influence of which, will be felt for years to come. We often say that science and technology are the first productive forces, but these are not themselves natural products. It is the creativity of human thought that brings science and technology into existence, which means that creativity and imagination are the true original productive forces. Promoting Sci-fi culture in China helps improve scientific literacy throughout its population, and helps build an innovative country.

Q18｜Would you like to say anything to the readers and Sci-fi fans around the world about your nomination for the Hugo Awards?

He Xi: I wrote a message last year, as the Co-chair of Chengdu Worldcon, and I’d like to quote a paragraph here, as my reply.

“Science Fiction knows no bounds. Science Fiction embraces all. Science Fiction is beloved by all mankind. Nowadays, Giant telescopes, built by human beings, can observe the starry sky 10 billion light years away, but the more we learn about this vast universe, the more we can appreciate the immense preciousness of the earth. For ten thousand years, mankind has wreaked havoc on the face of this planet, with the unprecedented power of technology. Now we face a critical crossroads, and the choices we make now, will affect us for our entire future. Science Fiction has given us the chance to explore history and extrapolate the future through thousands of profound thought experiments, to break through our darkness and embrace the light. To become the best versions of ourselves, and help our planet last a little longer.”