What can science fiction tell us about China? And China about science fiction? Until relatively recently, Chinese science fiction was a marginalized genre domestically and totally unknown internationally. Over the past decade, the genre has now grown into a global phenomenon, not least thanks to the enormous success of the novel trilogy The Three Body Problem, which is now again relevant in the form of a lavish Netflix production, and which will also come in a Swedish translation in the spring. In everything from Han Song's dystopian novels of contemporary China to the box office hits The Wandering Earth I and II, Chinese science fiction is something that both frightens and fascinates as it reflects the resurgence of superpower China on the global political stage. In this lecture, Erik Mo Welin gives an introduction to the genre in a Chinese context.
 

Erik Mo Welin is employed at the Foreign Policy Institute in Stockholm, where he works as an analyst at the National Knowledge Center on China. Erik is also a doctor in sinology with a degree from Uppsala University, where he defended a thesis on the connection between time experiences and politics in contemporary Chinese science fiction. He also holds a double master's degree in Chinese languages ​​and cultures from Stockholm and Zhejiang universities. In the period 2009-2017, Erik mostly lived in China where, in addition to studying, he also worked as a teacher, translator, and practiced at the cultural section at the Swedish embassy in Beijing. Erik has also studied English-language literature and linguistics at Stockholm University.