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Science fiction authors were excluded from awards for fear of offending China (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

106 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Leaked emails show organizers of the prestigious Hugo Awards vetted writers’ work and comments with regard to China, where last year’s awards were held.

Organizers of the Hugo Awards, one of the most prominent literary awards in science fiction, excluded multiple authors from shortlists last year over concerns their work or public comments could be offensive to China, leaked emails show.

Questions had been raised as to why writers including Neil Gaiman, R.F. Kuang, Xiran Jay Zhao and Paul Weimer had been deemed ineligible as finalists despite earning enough votes according to information published last month by awards organizers. Emails released this week revealed that they were concerned about how some authors might be perceived in China, where the Hugo Awards were held last year for the first time.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago

from the excellent antipope article posted earlier:

A commenter just drew my attention to this news item on China.org.cn, dated October 23rd, 2023, right after the worldcon. It begins:

Investment deals valued at approximately $1.09 billion were signed during the 81st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, last week at its inaugural industrial development summit, marking significant progress in the advancement of sci-fi development in China.

The deals included 21 sci-fi industry projects involving companies that produce films, parks, and immersive sci-fi experiences ..."

That's a metric fuckton of moolah in play, and it would totally account for the fan-run convention folks being discreetly elbowed out of the way and the entire event being stage-managed as a backdrop for a major industrial event to bootstrap creative industries (film, TV, and games) in Chengdu. And—looking for the most charitable interpretation here—the hapless western WSFS people being carried along for the ride to provide a veneer of worldcon-ness to what was basically Chinese venture capital hijacking the event and then sanitizing it politically.

Follow the money.

[–] [email protected] 136 points 8 months ago (9 children)

Fuck China and their censorship, the Hugos should be ashamed to bow down to it. Literally the genre that calls their nonsense out.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 8 months ago

Xiran Jay Zhao is posting about this on their Instagram a lot, which gives an insight into this from the POV of a Chinese person.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Since most industries treat their awards ceremonies as no more respectable than industry galas + appointing lists of insider-approved "most notable content" awards, I treat them that way! IE I got back into sci fi this year after a hiatus of many years. I looked over the Hugos from the last ten years to find some interesting titles to get me started. While I wasn't disappointed in the slightest by any of them, I could also tell there's no way these were actually the best of the best sci-fi from the last 10 years.

And, you know, if the people throwing the gala are smart, they'll understand it as an advertising event for the whole industry, so the dog and pony show counts, unfortunately. They can, and many do, shit out lists of recent notable titles put together by editors for advertising purposes, but who checks those? Who cares? But holding an award ceremony with judges, that's something you can get media coverage of. There are pictures to take, controversies to be had, etc. The more unique and interesting it is, and the more credible the dog and pony show, the more excited people get about it.

You can't sustain that angle of an awards ceremony if it's obviously just wheeling and dealing. But since it's all just wheeling and dealing these days, what can you do but throw out the baby with the bathwater? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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[–] [email protected] 186 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Wow, what a great argument to never host anything in China, ever.

[–] [email protected] 98 points 8 months ago (1 children)

These events keep getting held in places like China and Saudi Arabia, where the organizers know they are going to have to make major concessions to those governments, because the organizers care far more about money than they do the event. At least that's my theory.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago

using money to project their influence and values overseas, sport-washing and peddling fossil fuels…

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[+] [email protected] -6 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Can someone tell me whether Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem series is stained by Chinese communist propaganda? Because I find the story very appealing, but am wary of the many awards that the series won in Communist Pseudo-China. Are there any undertones I missed?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I believe it was the third book of the series where he essentially describes a unified humanity that was basically a mix of China and the USA. I'm doubtful that aligns well with the expectations of the Communist Party of China, but maybe? 😆

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I'd say that it's substantially about the cultural revolution and imo gives it an overall negative treatment that happens to align with the present transition away from hardcore Maoism in China. Cultures are not so monolithic as to be functions of their local propaganda. Much like, say, the US is producing a lot of good science fiction despite having an unhealthy love of capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was amazed he got away with the first part of the first book which describes aspects of the Cultural Revolution in great detail and doesn't shy away from the whole teenagers murdering their teachers aspect. He is publically pro-goverment in the way you'd better be as a public figure in China. The books, especially the first one, are good.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I liked the ideas in the books more than the books itself. as a peice of literature I thought the writing was mediocre at best, characters with the depth of cardboard. maybe some nuance is lost in translation, but I don't quite understand the hype. but the concepts like I said, fantastic

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

I think the concepts are what is getting people. Like you say, the characters are shallow, but the ideas are food for thought and feel decently novel, at least to me.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

You can tell the book is written from within China. It has some different perspectives to what you’d normally find in a “western” book, but not in a propaganda way. Worth the read

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

I don't recall any overt tones. I think it is so highly awarded because it isn't anti-CCP, though I don't remember ever feeling like it took any time away saying it was good, either.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Every Chinese person will be cautious about some topics but the book is fine.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (3 children)

"she was dimly aware of somebody screaming, and after a few moments realised the sound was coming from her" - Neil Gaiman; every book.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, he does like to play around with the sometimes confusing, fragmentary, and disorienting nature of subjective experience, especially during traumatic events, doesn't he

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

He's not bad.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Someone's never read Sandman.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I've only read a couple of his books but don't remember this specific trope. Can you give notations?

And even if you dislike this trope and think it's lame does that mean he should be booted out of the Hugo awards?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The more popular an artist, the louder the haters /shrug

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Even if Science Fiction is more popular now it is still kinda a niche area, so disappointed to get one of the good sources do this

[–] [email protected] -5 points 8 months ago

A bit off topic but Rebecca rocks

[–] [email protected] 130 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Way to lose all credibility in one event

[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I mean, that depends.

There was a campaign from 2013 to 2017 by rightwingers to game the Hugos by buying non-attending memberships to worldcon and nominating works they deemed to be sufficiently non-woke. Thing is, there's one nominee they couldn't game: "none of these."

So most of the time where the only nominees were gamed, membership voted that there was to be no award in that category that year. The exceptions were authors that likely would have been nominated anyway due to name recognition, like Neil Gaiman.

The award can maintain its integrity despite the committee's lack thereof if Worldcon members vote for no award to be given in the categories leadership fucked with.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago

That's a great example and entirely valid.

On the flip side though I can't imagine many countries where awards would be vetted simply because it might upset the host. It's a terrible idea IMO and does take away from whoever actually won this year. They'll be left to question whether they won fairly because a competitor was excluded for China's benefit.

I think this specific example does damage the integrity of the awards.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Hocus pocus, Hugo's a joke to us

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