Sci-fi to promote study of science
Print Edition
Science fiction plays an important role in encouraging children to study science, according to a senior official with the China Association of Science and Technology.
Speaking at the ongoing Another Planet Science Fiction Convention, Bai Xi, head of the CAST Department of Science Popularization, praised Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin and other Chinese writers for inspiring the nation’s youth.
“Having a few Nobel laureates, academicians, experts and professors won’t make China an innovative country,” he said, in a spirited speech to sci-fi writers and fans attending the event in Beijing.
“Science fiction is entrusted with promoting the scientific spirit and thinking in society.”
The official said only 16.1 percent of children wish to become scientists when they grow up, citing a People’s Daily survey, a figure lower than the 22 percent in 1978 when the reform and opening-up started.
He also said China had only 8.47 percent of scientifically literate citizens last year, a leapfrog from 1.36 percent in 2005 but still “a very low level” compared with 25 percent in the United States in 2015.
China has set a goal of pushing the scientific literacy rate to 10 percent by 2020 and to reach an advanced level globally by 2035, according to Bai.
“To complete this challenging task, we can’t just rely on those specializing in science popularization,” Bai said. “We are inviting writers, artists and even the 91 million science and technology practitioners to join this cause.”
The Chinese market for sci-fi literature reached 900 million yuan (US$130 million) in the first half of 2018, nearing the yearly total of 970 million yuan in 2017, while the sci-fi box office in the same period of 2018 reached 9.5 billion yuan, according to a report by the Shenzhen-based Southern University of Science and Technology.
Earlier this year, China-made sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth,” adapted from Liu Cixin’s short story, ignited a cinema-going craze.
The groundswell of public interest in sci-fi has been partly attributed to the continuous stream of scientific breakthroughs achieved by China in recent years, including sending the first probe and rover to the far side of the moon.
Sci-fi literature and industry has accompanied the modernization of countries such as Britain and the United States, said Liu, who predicted a similar boom in China.
“In today’s China, a strong sense of future is a fertile land for the growth of sci-fi,” he said.
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