Can we read Liu Cixin as a nonbinary writer? This talk evokes a speculation concerning the SF genre and its gender, with a view toward recognizing a nonbinary vision of the Neo-Baroque that has emerged in Chinese SF, particularly in the post-new wave She-SF. Does science fiction have gender? Traditional SF definitions are often based upon a binary differentiation. Liu Cixin is called “Big Liu,” writing “Hard SF,” and his space saga is often interpreted with references to the autistics of the sublime. But after the success of Liu Cixin’s Three Body Novels, I have seen the rise of a newest generation of women and nonbinary authors, such as Tang Fei 糖匪 (b. 1983), Wang Kanyu 王侃瑜 (b. 1990), Peng Simeng 彭思萌 (b. 1990), and Liao Shubo 廖舒波 (b. 1988). This talk tries to redefine SF from a nonbinary point of view and proposes to read Chinese new wave and She-SF as a break with the old-fashioned dualist thinking and mimetic realism.

Mingwei Song is Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Wellesley College.