City Sci-Fi Trilogy

Author: Zhang Xiguo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-03-01
Features: In The City (Science Fiction Trilogy), Zhang Xiguo constructs a world called Huohui, but he focuses more on creating a realistic historical atmosphere. He invents Huohui script, the "Dugu Philosophy" and "Dugu Posture" of Huohui, establishes ethical norms and marriage systems for the Huohui world, crafts an extensive historical narrative of Soren City, depicts a detailed "Late Anliu Era Huohui World Map," and even invents a game called "Dugu Chess" for the Huohui people. In the dense footnotes, Zhang Xiguo cites authoritative academic institutions from around the world to study Huohui history (of course, it is fictional). To build such a "fictional yet real world," Zhang Xiguo goes to great lengths, forcing readers to abandon their preconceived distrust of "science fiction" and fully immerse themselves in the story of the Huohui world. For Zhang Xiguo, the Huohui world is like the Southern town of the United States to Faulkner, or the Northeast Township of Gaomi to Mo Yan—it is an infinitely writable self-contained world.