EALL 2205 - Celestial Empire, Imagined Futures: Science Fiction and the Making of Modern China

FDR: Literature (HL)
Credits: 3

This course examines the development of Chinese science fiction from the late Qing dynasty to the present, tracing how writers have used speculative narratives to grapple with changing ideas about science, technology, and modernity. Through close reading of short stories, novel excerpts, and selected film and media adaptations in English translation, this course explores how Chinese science fiction has responded to moments of upheaval and transformation. It also looks at the ways science fiction has served as a space for imagining national renewal, offering social critique, wrestling with ethical dilemmas, confronting environmental crisis, and reflecting on humanity’s place in the cosmos.