By Ersatz Culture: As covered in various English language media (e.g. BBC, The Guardian, CNN) a large number of westerners have been showing up on the Xiaohongshu (aka “REDnote”) social media app, ahead of the possible imminent closure of TikTok in the US. Below is a selection of some members of the Chinese SF scene have responded. (The links should work in a browser without having to create an account on that app, although you might have to solve a CAPTCHA first, and it looks like any replies to the post are hidden.)
Science Fiction World (magazine and book publisher)
8 Light Minutes (book publisher)
I don’t think this is quite the trolling it might initially appear to be; the text of the post is mostly a Chinese-language promo for a translation of Allen Steele’s Coyote, although there is also some English language outreach at the bottom of the post. Via Google Translate:
When was the last time Americans fled en masse?
Not only did they flee silently, they also stole a spaceship, the USS Alabama, which was built with all the efforts of the United States! This is known as the “horse stealing” incident.
I’m not making this up, there is a Hugo Award nomination certification to check! (Editorial note: this seems to refer the “Stealing Alabama” novella that was part of this fixup novel)
On July 5, 2070, the spaceship successfully took off, escaped from the United States, and headed for a planet full of infinite hope – Coyote.
????️ The Coyote in the book is a new home for humans to seek spiritual refuge. It is an extremely realistic planet with vast wastelands, gurgling streams, and tens of thousands of mountains, which comforts people’s hearts.
???? But the creatures here are not very friendly. The American scientists who went to Coyote were like Link entering the Hyrule Continent. While exploring freely, they were surrounded by dangers…
????️ However, there are more dangerous things than indigenous creatures: the deepest desires, darkness, and struggles of human nature.
In this set of books, you can see the shadows of great writers such as Nietzsche, Jack London, Heinlein, Mark Twain, Hemingway, etc.!
Author Alan Steele once said that “Coyote” is a work that retells American history in the form of science fiction. If you understand “Coyote”, you will understand the struggle and dignity of Americans. This science fiction masterpiece completed many years ago still has extraordinary significance today.
????From ancient times to the present, human beings’ desire for a free world has never changed.
Yan Ru (fan who attended Chengdu and Glasgow Worldcons)
Apart from the hashtags, this post is entirely in English:
Whovian ?Welcome!
I’m so glad to meet whovian from all over the world!
Who’s your Doctor?
Doctor Who is my beloved TV episodes. Because of this episode, I became a Sci- Fi activist. Now I’m still trying to introduce it to Chinese friends, go to the globe Sci-Fi Con and want to meet all Doctors.
Hope to find a TARDIS with you!
[Click for larger images.]
