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The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

Since its inception, sf in China has served dual critical and didactic purposes. On the one hand to spread modernism and scientific education whilst entrenching Chinese nationalism with visions of technological miracles and the inevitable rise of China as a global power. On the other hand, it has al...

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Main Author: Field, Gemma
Other Authors: Twidle, Hedley
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of English Language and Literature 2023
Subjects:
English Language and Literary Studies
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access_status_str Open Access
author Field, Gemma
author2 Twidle, Hedley
author_browse Field, Gemma
Twidle, Hedley
author_facet Twidle, Hedley
Field, Gemma
author_sort Field, Gemma
collection Thesis
description Since its inception, sf in China has served dual critical and didactic purposes. On the one hand to spread modernism and scientific education whilst entrenching Chinese nationalism with visions of technological miracles and the inevitable rise of China as a global power. On the other hand, it has always served as a medium of criticism against the Chinese state and Confucian values. As China is the world's fastest growing economy, it is inevitable that issues of uneven development and the problematic of development play out in the Chinese public forum. Given the pervasive degree of government intervention in everyday life, normal channels of communication are obstructed or monitored. Thus, sf provides an ideal medium for such a discussion. Moreover, in the context of modern China, where any critique of the one-party state is required to walk a teetering tightrope to avoid censorship, sf's outlandish stories and settings allow it to pass state censorship when realist critiques would not. With its focus on investigating the possible consequences of technological and social development via fantastic and estranging means, sf's enduring popularity and inherent political entropy in the Chinese context speaks to the Chinese people's concern with and refiguration of those issues.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:31.121Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of English Language and Literature
publisherStr Department of English Language and Literature
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37178 The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction Field, Gemma Twidle, Hedley English Language and Literary Studies Since its inception, sf in China has served dual critical and didactic purposes. On the one hand to spread modernism and scientific education whilst entrenching Chinese nationalism with visions of technological miracles and the inevitable rise of China as a global power. On the other hand, it has always served as a medium of criticism against the Chinese state and Confucian values. As China is the world's fastest growing economy, it is inevitable that issues of uneven development and the problematic of development play out in the Chinese public forum. Given the pervasive degree of government intervention in everyday life, normal channels of communication are obstructed or monitored. Thus, sf provides an ideal medium for such a discussion. Moreover, in the context of modern China, where any critique of the one-party state is required to walk a teetering tightrope to avoid censorship, sf's outlandish stories and settings allow it to pass state censorship when realist critiques would not. With its focus on investigating the possible consequences of technological and social development via fantastic and estranging means, sf's enduring popularity and inherent political entropy in the Chinese context speaks to the Chinese people's concern with and refiguration of those issues. 2023-03-03T09:21:12Z 2023-03-03T09:21:12Z 2022 2023-02-20T12:44:51Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37178 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle English Language and Literary Studies
Field, Gemma
The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_full The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_fullStr The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_full_unstemmed The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_short The Sacrificial Altar of Development: Critiquing Narratives of Developmentalism in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
title_sort sacrificial altar of development critiquing narratives of developmentalism in contemporary chinese science fiction
topic English Language and Literary Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37178
work_keys_str_mv AT fieldgemma thesacrificialaltarofdevelopmentcritiquingnarrativesofdevelopmentalismincontemporarychinesesciencefiction
AT fieldgemma sacrificialaltarofdevelopmentcritiquingnarrativesofdevelopmentalismincontemporarychinesesciencefiction

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