Catastrophic, Supernatura Tides: Oceanic Epistemologies In Sinophone Science Fiction From The Mainland

This paper explores the intricate relationship between oceanic narratives, identity formation and ecosystem devastation within the works of three science fiction authors from Mainland China: Wang Jinkang 王晋康 (b. 1948), Han Song 韩松 (b. 1965), and Chen Qiufan 陈楸帆 (b.1981). Each of these writers narrates the development of in-between, hybrid identities at the frontiers between water and land, attempting to dismantle the binary oppositions these natural elements represent. Their works simultaneously express environmental concerns through portrayals of an overflowing, seething and contaminated ocean permeated with the supernatural. Moreover, in addressing the severe consequences of the colonial violence and ecological catastrophe affecting our planet, each narrative offers potential paths to a harmonious recovery. To achieve such harmony, the three authors adopt oceanic perspectives that blur the boundaries between East and West, Indigenous and foreign, nature and culture, thus challenging monolithic worldviews. By applying an approach informed by Édouard Glissant’s theories, this study attempts to identify an oceanic perspective in Mainland Chinese sf authors that represent ideological, identitarian and geographical divisions as fluid borders between sea and land.