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Unexplained exclusion of sci-fi works for top award raises issue of Chinese censorship

2024-01-29 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

BEIJING - A recent revelation that four science fiction and fantasy works and writers have been declared ineligible for the prestigious literary Hugo Awards, has raised concerns over censorship by the Chinese authorities.

The international literary community has been up in arms over the past week over the unexplained disqualifications, which include works involving Chinese history by two authors who were born in the mainland and now reside overseas.

The Hugo Awards in 2023 was co-administered by members of the Chinese sci-fi industry. The awards were part of the World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, which was held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in October 2023.

Chinese-American author R. F. Kuang’s book, Babel: Or The Necessity Of Violence, was one of the four nominees in four categories who were marked as “not eligible” when delayed full voting results for the Hugo were released online on Jan 20.

Babel was tipped to win Best Novel, given that it had topped bestseller lists and already bagged the US-based Nebula and Locus awards – two other top sci-fi and fantasy literary accolades – earlier in 2023. Babel had received the third-highest number of nominations in the 15-title longlist.

Babel was tipped to win Best Novel. PHOTO: HARPER COLLINS

The other works and authors excluded were Xiran Jay Zhao, a Chinese-Canadian YouTuber and writer who was longlisted for the Astounding Award given to new writers; an episode of the Sandman TV series by celebrated author Neil Gaiman for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form); and Mr Paul Weimer in the Best Fan Writer category.

All four writers have made public statements, saying they have not received official reasons for their exclusion. Ms Kuang wrote that “no reason for Babel’s ineligibility was given to me or my team”.

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“Until (a reason) is provided that explains why the book was eligible for the Nebula and Locus awards, which it won, and not the Hugos, I assume this was a matter of undesirability rather than ineligibility,” she posted on Jan 23 on Bluesky – a social media platform that is an alternative to X.

When pressed by angry fans on his Facebook page, Mr Dave McCarty, the co-head of the Hugo Awards Selection Executive Department, denied that the Chinese authorities had any role to play in the exclusions. Mr McCarty leads the department alongside Professor Jiang Zhenyu, a Chinese sci-fi expert from Sichuan University.

“There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner,” wrote Mr McCarty, which only sparked more responses speculating about self-censorship.

The Hugo team of the Chengdu Worldcon did not respond to ST’s e-mail query by press time. But its previous statement was that “after reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible”.

Chinese sci-fi author Chen Qiufan described the controversy as frustrating and disappointing, and believes it has undone years of hard work by the Chinese sci-fi industry, including writers, fans and publishers, to promote the genre.

“It’s causing serious damage to the reputation of Chinese sci-fi,” he told ST, adding that the lack of explanation for the disqualifications was unacceptable.

“It will be even more difficult to get published and export our authors and works to the international market because people might have biases and presumptions.”