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The Reincarnated Giant: An Anthology of Twenty-First-Century Chinese Science Fiction
A new wave of Chinese science fiction is here. This golden age has not only resurrected the genre but also subverted its own conventions. Going beyond political utopianism and technological optimism, contemporary Chinese writers conjure glittering visions and subversive experiments--ranging from space opera to cyberpunk, utopianism to the posthuman, and parodies of China's rise to deconstructions of the myth of national development.
This anthology showcases the best of contemporary science fiction from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People's Republic of China. In fifteen short stories and novel excerpts, The Reincarnated Giant opens a doorway into imaginary realms alongside our own world and the history of the future. Authors such as Lo Yi-chin, Dung Kai-cheung, Han Song, Chen Qiufan, and the Hugo winner Liu Cixin--some alive during the Cultural Revolution, others born in the 1980s--blur the boundaries between realism and surrealism, between politics and technology. They tell tales of intergalactic war; decoding the last message sent from an extinct human race; the use of dreams as tools to differentiate cyborgs and humans; poets' strange afterlife inside a supercomputer; cannibalism aboard an airplane; and unchecked development that leads to uncontrollable catastrophe. At a time when the Chinese government promotes the "Chinese dream," the dark side of the new wave shows a nightmarish unconscious. The Reincarnated Giant is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of the genre.--Veronica Hollinger, professor emerita, Trent University, and editor, Science Fiction Studies "Times Literary Supplement"
This anthology showcases the best of contemporary science fiction from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People's Republic of China. In fifteen short stories and novel excerpts, The Reincarnated Giant opens a doorway into imaginary realms alongside our own world and the history of the future. Authors such as Lo Yi-chin, Dung Kai-cheung, Han Song, Chen Qiufan, and the Hugo winner Liu Cixin--some alive during the Cultural Revolution, others born in the 1980s--blur the boundaries between realism and surrealism, between politics and technology. They tell tales of intergalactic war; decoding the last message sent from an extinct human race; the use of dreams as tools to differentiate cyborgs and humans; poets' strange afterlife inside a supercomputer; cannibalism aboard an airplane; and unchecked development that leads to uncontrollable catastrophe. At a time when the Chinese government promotes the "Chinese dream," the dark side of the new wave shows a nightmarish unconscious. The Reincarnated Giant is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of the genre.--Veronica Hollinger, professor emerita, Trent University, and editor, Science Fiction Studies "Times Literary Supplement"
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2017
About the author
Mingwei Song
8 books9 followersMingwei Song is a Chinese literary critic and Associate Professor of Chinese at Wellesley College. He is the director of the Chinese program. He has written books and articles in both English and Chinese. He received a “Shanghai Literature Award” for literary criticism in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 22, 2019
Like most short story collections, the selections ranged from dull to mind blowing. But in this case, the selections are skewed more towards mind-blowing.
I'm finding the Chinese have a refreshingly unique point of view in their sci-fi, and I'm loving it. I think the final tale, "Songs of Ancient Earth", is probably my favorite of the bunch. Definitely a great introduction to what's coming out of the Middle Kingdom in genre fiction.
I'm finding the Chinese have a refreshingly unique point of view in their sci-fi, and I'm loving it. I think the final tale, "Songs of Ancient Earth", is probably my favorite of the bunch. Definitely a great introduction to what's coming out of the Middle Kingdom in genre fiction.
December 11, 2018
An excellent anthology of Chinese sci-fi with a wide range of stories. I was unfamiliar with most of the writers here, except Liu Cixin, but I found many authors I wanted to read more by. Highly recommended for any and all science fiction fans.
Want to Read
March 7, 20242/15
February 4, 2022
This 2 star rating is not entirely this anthology's fault. 1) for whatever reason, I find it SO HARD to get into short story anthologies. (Then why do you keep buying them, Stefanie??) 2) I started reading this in early pandemic times (April 2020). Not really the greatest time for intellectual, high-focus books, I've found. For example, reading outside of your culture, even in a genre you know and love.
BUT! In some ways the 2 star rating is this book's fault. It is more academic in style than other anthologies I've read; even comes with an introduction tracing the history of sci-fi in China. I liked the introduction, actually, but I think it may mean that many of the stories collected in here are "important" rather than "good" - "good" meaning that they were also popularly or commercially successful. Or, possibly I'm just not jiving well with the storytelling style of most Chinese sci-fi. This is the first of it I've read, though I have Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation and Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation in the queue, as well as the more general Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Speaking first from demographics, there are 3 female contributors out of 15 stories. Pretty paltry, and my irritation at this is escalated because last year I read a collection of four thousand years of Chinese poetry, and there were about 3 contributions from women in that, also. But more than just numbers, almost all of the stories feature male leads, surrounded by other men in vastly male-oriented spaces. Also, just as a fun bonus, some casual homophobia in a couple of the stories. For me, this made reading a freaking SLOG at times. A bit exhausting.
But referring to style: on the good side, all of these stories had fascinating ideas presented (sometimes several), and they were a lot closer to "hard sci-fi" than the modern American/UK take on the genre, which was a nice change. Many of them really felt like speculative science, which was cool to read. But another commonality seemed to be a very moralizing / lesson-giving tone (even if the story skewed expectations of what the moral or lesson would be), which I enjoyed a bunch less. I didn't find many of the characters realistic or relatable, either - one of the common critiques of sci-fi, especially the more closely aligned with "science" it is, no matter what country you're in. Is this what it means to read Chinese sci-fi? Is it just this particular selection of stories? Is is the translations? (PS, I know nothing about any of the translators except Ken Liu who seems eminently trustworthy, so I have no reason to think they didn't do a great job.)
Who knows, but on the whole it means I put this book aside for an entire year and a half before finally picking it up again and finishing it. I probably will get around to those other anthologies mentioned above, but first need a bit of break from Chinese sci-fi.
Stories included, my faves bolded:
Regenerated Bricks by Han Song
The Village Schoolteacher by Liu Cixin
Histories of Time: the Lustre of Mute Porcelain by Dung Kai-Cheung
The Dream Devourer (chapters 5-7) by Egoyan Zheng
The Demon-Enslaving Flask by Xia Jia
The Poetry Cloud by Liu Cixin
"Science Fiction," a chapter of Daughter by Lo Yi-Chin
Balin by Chen Qiufan
The Radio Waves That Never Die by La La
1923: a Fantasy by Zhao Haihong
The Passenger and the Creator by Han Song
The Reincarnated Giant by Wang Jinkang
The Rain Forest by Chi Hui
The Demon's Head by Fei Dao
Songs of Ancient Earth by Bao Shu
BUT! In some ways the 2 star rating is this book's fault. It is more academic in style than other anthologies I've read; even comes with an introduction tracing the history of sci-fi in China. I liked the introduction, actually, but I think it may mean that many of the stories collected in here are "important" rather than "good" - "good" meaning that they were also popularly or commercially successful. Or, possibly I'm just not jiving well with the storytelling style of most Chinese sci-fi. This is the first of it I've read, though I have Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation and Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation in the queue, as well as the more general Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Speaking first from demographics, there are 3 female contributors out of 15 stories. Pretty paltry, and my irritation at this is escalated because last year I read a collection of four thousand years of Chinese poetry, and there were about 3 contributions from women in that, also. But more than just numbers, almost all of the stories feature male leads, surrounded by other men in vastly male-oriented spaces. Also, just as a fun bonus, some casual homophobia in a couple of the stories. For me, this made reading a freaking SLOG at times. A bit exhausting.
But referring to style: on the good side, all of these stories had fascinating ideas presented (sometimes several), and they were a lot closer to "hard sci-fi" than the modern American/UK take on the genre, which was a nice change. Many of them really felt like speculative science, which was cool to read. But another commonality seemed to be a very moralizing / lesson-giving tone (even if the story skewed expectations of what the moral or lesson would be), which I enjoyed a bunch less. I didn't find many of the characters realistic or relatable, either - one of the common critiques of sci-fi, especially the more closely aligned with "science" it is, no matter what country you're in. Is this what it means to read Chinese sci-fi? Is it just this particular selection of stories? Is is the translations? (PS, I know nothing about any of the translators except Ken Liu who seems eminently trustworthy, so I have no reason to think they didn't do a great job.)
Who knows, but on the whole it means I put this book aside for an entire year and a half before finally picking it up again and finishing it. I probably will get around to those other anthologies mentioned above, but first need a bit of break from Chinese sci-fi.
Stories included, my faves bolded:
Regenerated Bricks by Han Song
The Village Schoolteacher by Liu Cixin
Histories of Time: the Lustre of Mute Porcelain by Dung Kai-Cheung
The Dream Devourer (chapters 5-7) by Egoyan Zheng
The Demon-Enslaving Flask by Xia Jia
The Poetry Cloud by Liu Cixin
"Science Fiction," a chapter of Daughter by Lo Yi-Chin
Balin by Chen Qiufan
The Radio Waves That Never Die by La La
1923: a Fantasy by Zhao Haihong
The Passenger and the Creator by Han Song
The Reincarnated Giant by Wang Jinkang
The Rain Forest by Chi Hui
The Demon's Head by Fei Dao
Songs of Ancient Earth by Bao Shu
January 28, 2021
I was initially discouraged to read this collection after seeing all the abysmal and mediocre reviews for it, but I’m glad I ultimately didn’t trust the mainstream opinion. The translators of all of these stories were actually quite good and thoughtful in their choice of words; the stories flowed eloquently, with technical speech peppered throughout, which made the ideas not overly pretentious and still imparted some of the technical aspects for the nerds.
For newcomers to Chinese sci-fi, many of these famous authors started writing after years of professional engineering (Liu Cixin being the most famous in the states) and as postgrads/lecturers of physics, art history, literature, computer programming, political media, etc. and it really shows through each author’s fantastical imagination writing across their dedicated field of study. There are some cultural references throughout and translator notes included for those interested, which I personally appreciated the wordplays and homages to historical events, but the stories would still be enjoyable without reading them if you just don’t care.
Also, for more recommended reading in this same vein, quite a few of these authors have other stories which have been translated to English in the Chinese sci-fi collections Broken Stars and Invisible Planets (edited by Ken Liu) or full books to look out for from the contributors Chen Qiufan, Xia Jia, Han Song, Fei Dao, Bao Shu and Liu Cixin, who just released his own short story collection To Hold Up the Sky a few months ago.
For newcomers to Chinese sci-fi, many of these famous authors started writing after years of professional engineering (Liu Cixin being the most famous in the states) and as postgrads/lecturers of physics, art history, literature, computer programming, political media, etc. and it really shows through each author’s fantastical imagination writing across their dedicated field of study. There are some cultural references throughout and translator notes included for those interested, which I personally appreciated the wordplays and homages to historical events, but the stories would still be enjoyable without reading them if you just don’t care.
Also, for more recommended reading in this same vein, quite a few of these authors have other stories which have been translated to English in the Chinese sci-fi collections Broken Stars and Invisible Planets (edited by Ken Liu) or full books to look out for from the contributors Chen Qiufan, Xia Jia, Han Song, Fei Dao, Bao Shu and Liu Cixin, who just released his own short story collection To Hold Up the Sky a few months ago.
May 8, 2022
Regenerated Bricks - Han Song (2010)
An allegory of all things brick. At first corpse materials were used in the production of the bricks that develop society, but then it was realized that abstract concepts could be used as well. Maybe the universe is a brick and we bricks worship the god of bricks. Praise brick.
Blah
The Village Schoolteacher - Liu Cixin (2001)
Ignorance is death and knowledge is salvation. This idea was explored through a desolate mountain village where only the practicalities of survival mattered. Literacy and scientific knowledge won't keep you fed. A lone schoolteacher struggles to his dying breath to teach children science. Elsewhere, a galactic expeditionary force is destroying millions of stars to create an exclusionary zone to end a war that has lasted for over 20,000 years. They come across of Earth and test a random sample of its knowledge. All lifeforms that fail are not worth saving. I was conflicted about the implicit and explicit ideas it put forth.
Ok
Histories Of Time: The Luster of Mute Porcelain (Excerpts) - Dung Kai-Cheung (2007)
This was one of the more intriguing stories I've came across in a while. It was enjoyably written at times and baffling at others. I don't know how much of that was literary posturing though. Although Dung lives in Hong Kong, this had even more of a British aesthetic than I expected. I'll try to read more from him.
Four narrative modes were presented. One took place in the real world and featured an interview between a journalist and an author. A second was a fictional work of the author. The third was the author interacting with his fictional characters. The fourth was a fictional work coauthored by the journalist and the author in which the characters were various iterations of the journalist and author in different interwoven temporalities.
Excerpts are Unrated
The Dream Devourer (Chapters 5–7) - Egoyan Zheng (2010)
This takes place during an ongoing century long war between humans and biosynthetics, which are synthetic humans. The protagonist believes himself to be synthetic, but perhaps he could become human, or maybe he's something else. It seems to be a SF spy thriller.
This had what I commonly associate with being a Japanese aesthetic, which may or not be related to how Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895-1945. It read like a novelization of a JRPG. It's filled with a kind of nonsense that I'm both familiar with and enjoy. These excerpted chapters are filled with infodumps and proper noun babbling. I was reminded of Tetsuya Takahashi. There are also shades of Philip K. Dick. I'll read more from this author.
Excerpts are Unrated
The Demon-Enslaving Flask - Xia Jia (2004)
James Maxwell uses a literal demon to explain Maxwell's Demon.
Ok
The Poetry Cloud - Liu Cixin (2003)
The Space Dinosaur Empire conquers Earth, which has been hollowed out, and raises them as poultry. An Energy Being is offered a human as a souvenir. The human proclaims that Ancient Chinese Poetry cannot be surpassed by even the Gods. The Energy Being accepts the challenge.
Meh
“Science Fiction”: A Chapter of Daughter - Lo Yi-Chin (2014)
This was another excerpt. I think this was meant to be intentionally disorienting. By the end I felt like I was in a fever dream. I don't know what this was about and maybe this excerpt wasn't enough to know. It's something about an underground facility and they're trying to perfect female androids, at least his project is, but there are many projects. There's also something about lectures, dreaming, and imaginary worlds. The references are all over the place. There is French-Italian movies; Swiss-German art; Peruvian, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Chinese, and Japanese literature; Japanese PC games; manga; Batman; Sesame Street; and myriad more. All in all, an interesting experience.
Excerpts are Unrated
Balin - Chen Qiufan (2015)
At thirteen his father gave him a mythological humanoid as a slave. In the present, he conducts a experiment studying the correlation between motor control and free will.
Meh
The Radio Waves That Never Die - La La (2007)
On planet Lathmu the sole researcher studying radio waves comes across a startling tragedy from 100 billion seconds ago. It's the story of the humanity's search for a new planet after Earth had been destroyed by a supernova.
Ok
1923: A Fantasy - Zhao Haihong (2004)
A man opens a chest passed down from his great-grandfather. Inside are sealed bottles of water and notes about water memory, a pseudoscience. As he reads about the Aqua Dream Machine, he wonders whether it was science ahead of its time.
Meh
The Passengers and the Creator - Han Song (2005)
All the world he knows is a Boeing 7X7. Passengers are stratified by their socioeconomic status. First Class cannibalizes Economy class and has exclusive sexual access to their women. Economy class men are subjected to enforced homosexuality. The economy class male protagonist meets a stranger who reveals the secrets of the world to him.
Blah
The Reincarnated Giant - Wang Jinkang (2005)
A man, one of the wealthiest in the world, decides to cheat death by having his brain transplanted into an anencephalic infant. The protagonist is his surgeon. It's successful, but neither of them expected that his physical growth would be unlimited. This was a hilarious satire.
Enjoyable
The Rain Forest - Chi Hui (2007)
Plants have been plotting for over a billion years to take back the world from animals.
Blah
The Demon's Head - Fei Dao (2007)
A General who has committed crimes against humanity is assassinated and only his brain remains. It's decided that evil comes from the body, not the brain.
Meh
Songs of Ancient Earth - Bao Shu (2012)
A hyperspace ship travels 650 lightyears to study the star Alpha Orionis. On a tiny planet by the star they find an ancient human spacecraft. An additional mystery of songs emanating from the star baffles them. From then on it's a political horror story.
Meh
An allegory of all things brick. At first corpse materials were used in the production of the bricks that develop society, but then it was realized that abstract concepts could be used as well. Maybe the universe is a brick and we bricks worship the god of bricks. Praise brick.
Blah
The Village Schoolteacher - Liu Cixin (2001)
Ignorance is death and knowledge is salvation. This idea was explored through a desolate mountain village where only the practicalities of survival mattered. Literacy and scientific knowledge won't keep you fed. A lone schoolteacher struggles to his dying breath to teach children science. Elsewhere, a galactic expeditionary force is destroying millions of stars to create an exclusionary zone to end a war that has lasted for over 20,000 years. They come across of Earth and test a random sample of its knowledge. All lifeforms that fail are not worth saving. I was conflicted about the implicit and explicit ideas it put forth.
Ok
Histories Of Time: The Luster of Mute Porcelain (Excerpts) - Dung Kai-Cheung (2007)
This was one of the more intriguing stories I've came across in a while. It was enjoyably written at times and baffling at others. I don't know how much of that was literary posturing though. Although Dung lives in Hong Kong, this had even more of a British aesthetic than I expected. I'll try to read more from him.
Four narrative modes were presented. One took place in the real world and featured an interview between a journalist and an author. A second was a fictional work of the author. The third was the author interacting with his fictional characters. The fourth was a fictional work coauthored by the journalist and the author in which the characters were various iterations of the journalist and author in different interwoven temporalities.
Excerpts are Unrated
The Dream Devourer (Chapters 5–7) - Egoyan Zheng (2010)
This takes place during an ongoing century long war between humans and biosynthetics, which are synthetic humans. The protagonist believes himself to be synthetic, but perhaps he could become human, or maybe he's something else. It seems to be a SF spy thriller.
This had what I commonly associate with being a Japanese aesthetic, which may or not be related to how Taiwan was under Japanese rule from 1895-1945. It read like a novelization of a JRPG. It's filled with a kind of nonsense that I'm both familiar with and enjoy. These excerpted chapters are filled with infodumps and proper noun babbling. I was reminded of Tetsuya Takahashi. There are also shades of Philip K. Dick. I'll read more from this author.
Excerpts are Unrated
The Demon-Enslaving Flask - Xia Jia (2004)
James Maxwell uses a literal demon to explain Maxwell's Demon.
Ok
The Poetry Cloud - Liu Cixin (2003)
The Space Dinosaur Empire conquers Earth, which has been hollowed out, and raises them as poultry. An Energy Being is offered a human as a souvenir. The human proclaims that Ancient Chinese Poetry cannot be surpassed by even the Gods. The Energy Being accepts the challenge.
Meh
“Science Fiction”: A Chapter of Daughter - Lo Yi-Chin (2014)
This was another excerpt. I think this was meant to be intentionally disorienting. By the end I felt like I was in a fever dream. I don't know what this was about and maybe this excerpt wasn't enough to know. It's something about an underground facility and they're trying to perfect female androids, at least his project is, but there are many projects. There's also something about lectures, dreaming, and imaginary worlds. The references are all over the place. There is French-Italian movies; Swiss-German art; Peruvian, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Chinese, and Japanese literature; Japanese PC games; manga; Batman; Sesame Street; and myriad more. All in all, an interesting experience.
Excerpts are Unrated
Balin - Chen Qiufan (2015)
At thirteen his father gave him a mythological humanoid as a slave. In the present, he conducts a experiment studying the correlation between motor control and free will.
Meh
The Radio Waves That Never Die - La La (2007)
On planet Lathmu the sole researcher studying radio waves comes across a startling tragedy from 100 billion seconds ago. It's the story of the humanity's search for a new planet after Earth had been destroyed by a supernova.
Ok
1923: A Fantasy - Zhao Haihong (2004)
A man opens a chest passed down from his great-grandfather. Inside are sealed bottles of water and notes about water memory, a pseudoscience. As he reads about the Aqua Dream Machine, he wonders whether it was science ahead of its time.
Meh
The Passengers and the Creator - Han Song (2005)
All the world he knows is a Boeing 7X7. Passengers are stratified by their socioeconomic status. First Class cannibalizes Economy class and has exclusive sexual access to their women. Economy class men are subjected to enforced homosexuality. The economy class male protagonist meets a stranger who reveals the secrets of the world to him.
Blah
The Reincarnated Giant - Wang Jinkang (2005)
A man, one of the wealthiest in the world, decides to cheat death by having his brain transplanted into an anencephalic infant. The protagonist is his surgeon. It's successful, but neither of them expected that his physical growth would be unlimited. This was a hilarious satire.
Enjoyable
The Rain Forest - Chi Hui (2007)
Plants have been plotting for over a billion years to take back the world from animals.
Blah
The Demon's Head - Fei Dao (2007)
A General who has committed crimes against humanity is assassinated and only his brain remains. It's decided that evil comes from the body, not the brain.
Meh
Songs of Ancient Earth - Bao Shu (2012)
A hyperspace ship travels 650 lightyears to study the star Alpha Orionis. On a tiny planet by the star they find an ancient human spacecraft. An additional mystery of songs emanating from the star baffles them. From then on it's a political horror story.
Meh
September 13, 2024
Out of the 15 stories/chapters excerpts chosen for this anthology I found around 5 to be enjoyable, the rest, while maybe intriguing from a science standpoint, either were dull due to translation or plot devices. I did enjoy reading the excerpts/short stories by Dung Kai-chung, Lo Yi-chun, Han Song, Wang Jinkang, and Baoshu.
I did appreciate the editors evident effort to get a variety of different types of science fiction, with some stories being classic hard sci-fi and others much more murky as to their genre. While not my favorite anthology of Chinese sci-fi (Ken Liu's collections still hold the crown in my opinion) it was worth the read.
I did appreciate the editors evident effort to get a variety of different types of science fiction, with some stories being classic hard sci-fi and others much more murky as to their genre. While not my favorite anthology of Chinese sci-fi (Ken Liu's collections still hold the crown in my opinion) it was worth the read.
June 4, 2019
Anthologies are plagued with a common issue - stories are either hit or miss. while many of the concepts were interesting or innovative, I did not think the writers pulled it off well. Personally, I did not enjoy some of the writing styles for a few authors. I wonder if this is an issue with the writer themselves, or if the meaning was lost in translation.
Overall, the book is worth a shot for anyone curious about Chinese sci-fi.
Overall, the book is worth a shot for anyone curious about Chinese sci-fi.
Read
April 21, 2021Great collection of stories.
Most stories read a little long for my taste - and a few stories do not deliver for their length - but quite a few have particularly strong deliveries. "Passengers on a Flight" is especially disturbing and subversive, Liu Cixin's "Village Schoolteacher" is an excellent story by a formidable, prolific writer, and the titular "Reincarnated Giant" is a standout satire/allegory.
Most stories read a little long for my taste - and a few stories do not deliver for their length - but quite a few have particularly strong deliveries. "Passengers on a Flight" is especially disturbing and subversive, Liu Cixin's "Village Schoolteacher" is an excellent story by a formidable, prolific writer, and the titular "Reincarnated Giant" is a standout satire/allegory.
November 30, 2025
It's a collection of short stories and extracts from novels. Although I'm a fan of Chinese scifi, this collection mostly failed to inspire in any way. Many of the 'short stories' kept veering in to the metaphysical realms of inducing boredom.
A few, just a few, were good though, and they were right towards the end. Namely these were:
* "The Reincarnated Giant",
* "The Demon's Head", and
* "Songs of Ancient Earth".
The rest were a slog to get through sadly.
A few, just a few, were good though, and they were right towards the end. Namely these were:
* "The Reincarnated Giant",
* "The Demon's Head", and
* "Songs of Ancient Earth".
The rest were a slog to get through sadly.
May 7, 2021
"The Demon-Enslaving Flask" by Xia Jia ★★
"The Passengers and the Creator" by Han Song ★★
"Songs of Ancient Earth" by Bao Shu ★★★
"The Passengers and the Creator" by Han Song ★★
"Songs of Ancient Earth" by Bao Shu ★★★
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews