Science Fiction and the Avant-Garde Spirit: An Interview with Han Song

Abstract

A journalist for Xinhua News Agency by day and science fiction writer by night, Beijing-based Han Song mines his daily experience as a journalist for his science fiction works, which are often dark and experimental in combining social elements with new forms and styles. Interviewer Chiara Cigarini decided to ask him some questions regarding his poetics and his production, focusing in particular on “Moban,” a short story centered on Beijing’s subway. In the spring of 2014, they met outside Peking University cafeteria. After the interview, reality began to look a bit like science fiction when they both took the subway home.