Contemporary Chinese science fiction offers a rich and polyphonic panorama of transformative moments in a future that, in many ways, seems already to be unfolding in our present. These narratives explore questions of control over emerging technologies, of human autonomy within systems that shape our existence, of how interpersonal relationships can be reimagined in an increasingly fragmented world, and of whether language and time can still serve as reliable structures and stable carriers of meaning.

Writers such as Xia Jia imagine literary futures that seek answers, open up new possibilities for insight, and envision alternative ways of being and living together. In conversation with the translator and editor Lukas Dubro and publisher Sarah Käsmayr, Xia Jia will discuss speculative visions of the future that unfold along a narrow ridge between fascination and unease. These scenarios present natural phenomena and technological developments as deeply ambivalent forces: as mirrors of human longing, as projections of our fears, or as autonomous agents with unpredictable consequences. At the heart of the event is the new anthology Flüchtige Zeit (“Ephemeral Time”), which brings together a wide range of literary visions of the future that continually renegotiate the relationship between humanity, the environment, and technology.

Moderation: Dr. Petra Thiel

Event in cooperation with MaroVerlag and the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University.