Taoist Philosophy in Chinese Science Fiction: A Comparison between Zhuangzi and Broken Stars

Aiqing Wang (University of Liverpool)

Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, dan Budaya
Vol 11, No 2 (2021)

Chinese science fiction has been attaining global visibility since Liu Cixin’s trilogy entitled Remembrance of Earth’s Past. The trilogy’s English translator Liu Yukun has edited and rendered a science-fiction anthology that comprises sixteen novellas composed by fourteen Chinese novelists. Apart from a fecundity of imagination and richness of imagery-evoking depictions, narratives compiled in the anthology also epitomise Taoist philosophy conveyed in Zhuangzi, a Warring States (475-221 BC) treatise ascribed to an illustrious philosopher Zhuangzi. Philosophical constructs in the anthology can be exemplified by quintessential construals such as ‘non-action’, ‘resting in destiny’ and ‘self-so’, as well as mindset appertaining to temporal and aesthetic issues.