The Conceptual Investigation and Discursive Critique of “SinoFuturism” in North American Academia
WANG Jin1, MA Xiao2
1. Faculty of Foreign Studies, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510632; 2. College of Liberal Arts, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510632
Abstract:Currently, the theoretical trend of “SinoFuturism” has gradually gained prominence in North American academia. It focuses on science-fiction narratives of China’s rapid technological development and, within the discourse of literary and cultural theory, imagines contemporary China as the future of the world. On the theoretical level, this trend reflects on the crisis of capitalist modernity and draws on such theoretical resources as technological accelerationism and digital modernity to articulate the ideas that “China is the future” and that the global center is shifting, thus construing China as an already-arrived technological utopia. On the level of literary criticism, it reads the image of “future China” in Chinese science fiction as a literary representation of technological authoritarianism and collectivism. Although this emerging trend reflects North American attention to China’s rise, at a deeper level, it still reproduces the limitations of techno-Orientalism, treating China as an Other that is both fascinating and alarming, while presenting a temporal politics of the “future” through imagination and misreading. A theoretical critique of SinoFuturism in North American academia would help, from the perspective of global civilizational exchange and mutual learning, to reconsider how China may participate in the construction of global future narratives through its indigenous lived experience, technological discourse, and science-fiction practice, and thus promote the emergence of a theoretical model of “China Futurism” grounded in a Chinese standpoint and oriented toward dialogue with the world.
王进, 马晓. 北美学界“中华未来主义”的概念溯源与话语批判[J]. 《深圳大学学报》(人文社科版), 2026, 43(3): 23-31.
WANG Jin, MA Xiao. The Conceptual Investigation and Discursive Critique of “SinoFuturism” in North American Academia. , 2026, 43(3): 23-31.
[1] Steve Goodman.Fei Ch’ien Rinse Out:Sino-Futurist Un-der-Currency[J].The Warwick Journal of Philosophy,1998,(7):155-172. [2] Filippo T. Marinetti. The Futurist Manifesto[N].Le Figaro,1909-02-20. [3] Virginia L.Conn. Scry, the Beloved Country: Sinofuturist Forecasting and Accelerationist Aesthetics[J].World Fut-ures Review,2023,15(1):56-74. [4] Georges Bataille.The Accursed Share:An Essay on Gen-eral Economy[M].Hurley R(Trans.).New York:Zone Books,1988.21. [5] Lawrence Lek. Sinofuturism (1839-2046AD)[EB/OL].https://www.lawrencelek.com/works/sinofuturism,2026-03-02. [6] Nick Land.Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007[M].Falmouth: Urbanomic,2011.442. [7] Andy Beckett. Accelerationism: How a Fringe Philosophy Predicted the Future We Live in[N].The Guardian,2017-05-11. [8] 蓝江. 当代资本主义下的加速主义策略——一种新马克思主义的思考[J].山东社会科学,2019,(6):5-12. [9] 李江峰.加速主义:技术激进主义的社会忧思[J].内蒙古社会科学,2021,42(5):57-63. [10] 许煜. 论中国的技术问题:宇宙技术初论[M].卢睿洋,苏子滢译.杭州:中国美术学院出版社,2021. [11] William A.Callahan. China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future[M].Oxford: Oxford University Press,2013.1. [12] Yen Ooi.Chinese Science Fiction: A Genre of Adversity[J].Science Fiction Research Association Review,2020, 50(2-3):141-148. [13] Gabriele De Seta.Sinofuturism as Inverse Orientalism: China’s Future and the Denial of Coevalness[J].Science Fiction Research Association Review,2020,50(2-3):86-94. [14] Virginia L.Conn,Gabriele De Seta. Let a Hundred Sino-futurisms Bloom[A].Taryne Jade Taylor,Isiah Lavender III, Grace L. Dillon, et al. The Routledge Handbook of CoF-uturisms[C].New York and London: Routledge,2024.350. [15] Astrid M ller-Olsen. Data Narrator:Digital Chronotopes in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction[J].Science Fi-ction Research Association Review,2020,50(2-3):133-40. [16] Virginia L.Conn. Sinofuturism and Chinese Science Fiction: An Introduction to the Alternative Sinofuturisms(中华未来主义) Special Issue[J].Science Fiction Rese-arch Association Review,2020,50:66-70. [17] Adrian S.Thieret. Imagining a Cosmopolitan Cosmos: Chinese Science Fiction[D].Palo Alto:Stanford Univers-ity PhD Dissertation, 2016.53. [18] 任冬梅. 晚清与民国科幻小说中“未来中国”形象之比较[J].中国比较文学,2015,(3):53-61. [19] 吴岩.中国科幻未来主义:时代表现、类型与特征[J].中国文学批评,2022,(3):62-69+190. [20] 吴岩. 科幻理论的未来版图[M].重庆:重庆大学出版社,2023.124-129. [21] 向玉乔.深刻理解和把握文化主体性[N].人民日报,2024-05-22(009). [22] 邹广文.中华文化主体性的哲学逻辑[J].中国社会科学,2025,(2):4-20+204. [23] Ken Liu. What Is “Silkpunk”?[EB/OL].https://kenliu.name/books/what-is-silkpunk/,2026-02-01. [24] 解非,师冠男.美国视角下的“中国未来主义”[N].瞭望,2025-11-18(046). [25] 中华人民共和国国务院.中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展第十四个五年规划和2035年远景目标纲要[M].北京:人民出版社,2021.6. [26] 习近平. 论科技自立自强[M].北京:中央文献出版社, 2023.260. [27] 科学技术部,中央宣传部,中国科学技术协会.“十四五”国家科学技术普及发展规划[EB/OL] https://www.most.gov.cn/xxgk/xinxifenlei/fdzdgknr/fg-zc/gfxwj/gfxwj2022/2 02208/t20220816_181896.html,2026-02-04.