The City Trilogy Read online

  THE CITY TRILOGY

  Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan

  Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan

  EDITORIAL BOARD

  Pang-yuan Chi

  Göran Malmqvist

  David Der-wei Wang, Coordinator

  Wang Chen-ho Rose, Rose, I Love You

  Cheng Ch’ing-wen Three-Legged Horse

  Chu T’ien-wen Notes of a Desolate Man

  Hsiao Li-hung A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers

  Chang Ta-chun Wild Kids: Two Novels About Growing Up

  Michelle Yeh and N.G.D. Malmqvist, editors Frontier Taiwan: An Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry

  Li Qiao Wintry Night

  Huang Chun-ming The Taste of Apples

  THE CITY TRILOGY

  FIVE JADE DISKS

  DEFENDERS OF THE DRAGON CITY

  TALE OF A FEATHER

  CHANG HSI-KUO

  Translated from the Chinese by John Balcom

  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW YORK

  Columbia University Press

  Publishers Since 1893

  New York

  Chichester, West Sussex

  cup.columbia.edu

  Copyright © 2003 Columbia University Press

  All rights reserved

  E-ISBN 978-0-231-50246-7

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Chang, S. K. (Shi Kuo), 1944– [Cheng. English]

  The city trilogy : Five jade disks, defenders of the Dragon City,

  Tale of a feather / Chang Ksi-kuo ; translated from the Chinese by John Balcom.

  p. cm.—(Modern Chinese literature from Taiwan)

  ISBN 0-231-12852-5

  1. Chang, S. K. (Shi Kuo), 1944– —Translations into English.

  I. Balcom, John. II. Title. III. Series.

  PL2837.H68 C4613 2003

  895.1’352—dc21 2002073709

  A Columbia University Press E-book.

  CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].

  CONTENTS

  Translator’s Preface Acknowledgments

  FIVE JADE DISKS

  DEFENDERS OF THE DRAGON CITY

  TALE OF A FEATHER

  TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

  CHANG HSI-KUO AND SCIENCE FICTION IN TAIWAN

  Chang Hsi-kuo (b. 1944) is considered the father of science fiction in Taiwan, and The City Trilogy is his magnum opus in the genre. It has been said that no other modern Chinese novel is like The City Trilogy.1 It is a unique blend of East and West, as if Star Wars met the worlds contained in classical Chinese chivalric and fantastic fiction and historical romance. But except for a few specialists in the West, few English-speaking readers are even aware that science fiction is written in Chinese, and few know anything about Chang Hsi-kuo, a highly acclaimed writer in the Chinese-speaking world.

  Chang is both a prolific author and a noted scientist. As an author, he is justly famous for his works of realist fiction as well as his science fiction. He has published 28 novels and several volumes of short stories and essays. The thematic range, the variety of genres he has tried, and the stylistic virtuosity of his work are sufficient to make him the envy of any professional writer. Dr. Chang earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a professor in the computer science department at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Center for Parallel, Distributed, and Intelligent Systems there. He has authored more than 225 scientific papers and authored or edited numerous scientific and technical books.

  Chang Hsi-kuo’s emergence as a writer of both realist and science fiction coincided with the rise of the postwar modernist movement in Taiwan literature. This movement, which had a significant impact on literature in Taiwan and fundamentally transformed artistic assumptions of writers and readers for generations to come, was launched by a group of Taiwan University students in their journal Modern Literature (Xiandai wenxue) (1960–1973). The young editors of the magazine agreed that the grand tradition of realism in Chinese literature was in decline, and to remedy that situation they proposed to assimilate western modernism. The magazine undertook a program of introducing major western authors as well as publishing the exciting new works of young authors.2 The appropriation of western literary modernism became the focus of Taiwan’s young iconoclastic writers. They toyed with existentialism, nihilism, and the romantic exaltation of the artist. Exploration of language and voice, violation of formal conventions, and linguistic hermeticism all came to characterize the experimental literature of Taiwan modernism.

  It was in this vibrant atmosphere that Chang’s first novel, Reverend Pi, was published in 1963 and his first work of science fiction, the short story “Biography of a Superman,” was published in 1969. But unlike most of his young contemporaries, Chang Hsi-kuo began his writing career as a realist obsessed with China and contemporary issues. His realistic stories and novels, concerned about the human condition, inevitably contain a message and express a set of ideals. Life and social change in Taiwan constitute the matter of this fiction,3 which includes such important works published in the 1970s as the novel The Chess Champion and the collection of short stories Banana Boat. Indeed, his obsession with China and the events of the day set Chang apart from the majority of the island’s modernists, who tended to be more interested in psychological exploration.

  Although Chang continued to write in the realist mode, he was growing dissatisfied, feeling that it was too constraining and inadequate for expressing himself. An avid reader of science fiction, Chang sought to introduce the genre to Chinese readers and writers by translating western science fiction stories and by writing his own stories and novels. Among his favorite authors are Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Robert A. Heinlein, but he asserts that the work of Borges also has been important to him.4 The subculture of science fiction that Chang encountered as a graduate student in the United States appealed to him immediately. During the McCarthy period and after, writers’ expression of radicalism and veiled critiques of contemporary society in the States were largely confined to this genre.5 Its obvious fictitiousness allowed them to question reality and examine larger truths unimpeded by political considerations. Paradoxically, Chang has come to feel that science fiction is more effective for exploring the truth and can be more “real” than realist fiction.6 Clearly the genre was ideally suited to his own concerns as a serious writer; the same truth-seeking impulse and obsessions that inform Chang’s realist works also inform his science fiction. In a sense his interest in science fiction can be seen as a continuation of the program of artistic appropriation initiated by the modernists as well as a logical trajectory for his own writing career.

  There are two histories of science fiction in China: the first includes the precursors of the genre that were published in the late Qing dynasty;7 the second begins in postwar Taiwan with the appropriation, interpretation, and transformation of the genre by Taiwan writers. The postwar history is of primary concern to us here. The first science fiction of the postwar period was published in Taiwan in the 1950s and included several translations that appeared in magazines for young adults. In the late 1950s, Zhao Zifan (b. 1924) published a trilogy of sci-fi novels (Flying Saucers Journey Through Space, 1956; A Record of Travels in Space, 1958; The Earth Seen from the Moon, 1959) that sold amazingly well and went into multiple print runs. However, it was not until the late 1960s that the genre really took off. In 1966, Chang Hsi-kuo wrote his first sci-fi short story; in 1968, the China Times published Zhang Xiaofeng’s science fiction; and in 1969 Huang Hai (b. 1943) published a collection of sci-fi stories titled The Year 1010. The genre continued to grow and develop throughout the coming de
cades.8

  Established writers such as Huang Hai and Chang Hsi-kuo continued to write. Other authors of science fiction such as Ye Yandu (b. 1949) began publishing. In the 1970s, Chang Hsi-kuo, using the pen name Xing Shi, began a column in the United Daily News devoted to introducing works of western science fiction in translation. He also edited an anthology of science fiction in translation titled Death of the Sea (1978).

  The 1980s saw critical recognition of the genre. In 1981, Huang Fan’s (b. 1950) novella Zero was awarded the United Daily News literary award for a novella, the first time any major award was given to a work of science fiction. In 1982, the Chinese Literature and Art Association gave its award for fiction to Huang Hai, again recognizing the genre. More anthologies appeared with more and more writers trying their hand at science fiction. Chang published a collection of short stories entitled The Nebula Suite in 1980. In 1989 he founded Mirage, a sci-fi magazine. Five Jade Disks, the first volume of The City Trilogy, was published in 1984 after being serialized in the China Times; the second volume of the trilogy, Defenders of the Dragon City, appeared in 1986; and Tale of a Feather, the third and final volume, in 1991. The genre remains robust in Taiwan, and Chang continues to be a dynamic promoter. In the 1990s, he published two more collections of science fiction short stories: The Golden Gown (1994) and Glassworld (1999).

  Chang Hsi-kuo has been concerned with the creation of a distinctly Chinese science fiction. But what does that mean? Interestingly, much of the critical discussion of the genre in the West has focused on the problem of definition. The now-standard definition is that proposed by Darko Suvin in his Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: “a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition, and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the author’s empirical environment.”9 Estrangement is achieved through the creation of an imaginative fictional world that, when juxtaposed with the mundane world, allows for the critical examination of the latter. Cognition ensures the critical examination that accounts rationally for the imagined world and for its connections and differences with the mundane world.10

  This interaction of estrangement and cognition is axiomatic for all science fiction, including Chang’s. What differentiates his work from western examples is an invigorating blend of science fiction and features of traditional Chinese fictional genres and history. For Chang, Chinese science fiction is inevitably intertwined with Chinese history (fictional or real). Looking at the future sheds light on the past and vice versa. It is this obsession with history that sets Chinese science fiction apart from American science fiction. Chang himself says that the “models” for his own work came less from western examples of the genre than from history, of which he has always been a voracious reader.11 However, some critics see parallels between Chang’s search for the truth and a moralizing and didactic purpose in traditional fiction to awaken readers to the truth.12 The fantastic elements in science fiction also have classical precursors—one only need recall such classics as Journey to the West and The Investiture of the Gods.

  The City Trilogy is Chang Hsi-kuo’s most sustained work in the science fiction genre to date and took approximately ten years to complete. It grew out of Chang’s story “City of the Bronze Statue,” which was published in the literary supplement of the United Daily News on August 18, 1980. The story was incorporated as the prologue of the trilogy itself. According to Chang, the story is about the true nature of human society in general and Chinese society in particular. As Chang elaborated upon it, he added a host of well-defined characters, worldviews, and philosophies for all the various peoples, and even a language—the written characters of the Huhui language in the novel are his creation. Chang’s imaginary world is one of the most fully realized in all Chinese science fiction. Its scope and complexity will remind readers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic Lord of the Rings. But the trilogy also warrants comparison with the classics of Chinese fiction and martial arts fiction. The interest in history and military strategy are reminiscent of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms; the attention to characterization recalls Outlaws of the Marsh. The warrior brotherhoods, the political intrigue, the martial arts, and the sense of justice manifested by the protagonists are all features one commonly encounters in martial arts fiction, both classical and contemporary.

  Like all good sci-fi, Chang’s trilogy entertains as it compels the reader to ponder more profound issues. Chang believes that the most basic concern of science fiction is the examination of the human condition. Thematically, the trilogy is concerned with historical determinism.13 Symbolically, the Bronze Statue can be said to represent history—how it is remade and revised, but also how it can determine the fate of a people.14 The contemplation of the fate of Sunlon City and the Huhui people in Chang’s tale provides ample food for thought regarding the world today. But as Chang points out, the story of Sunlon City—like the story of humanity—can really never be finished.15 So stay tuned for the next installment.

  J.B.

  Paris / Monterey / Vancouver, 2002

  NOTES

  1. David Der-wei Wang, Fin-de-siècle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849–1911 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997), 339.

  2. Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang, Modernism and the Nativist Resistance: Contemporary Fiction from Taiwan (Durham: Duke University Press, 1993), 1–22 and Leo Ou-fan Lee, “Modernism and Romanticism in Taiwan Literature” in Jeannette L. Faurot, ed., Chinese Fiction from Taiwan: Critical Perspectives (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980), 6–30.

  3. Joseph S.M. Lau, “Obsession with Taiwan: The Fiction of Chang Hsi-kuo,” in Jeannette L. Faurot, ed., Chinese Fiction from Taiwan: Critical Perspectives, 148–65.

  4. Chang Hsi-kuo, unpublished interview with the translator, 25 July 2002.

  5. David Meltzer, ed., “Interview with Kenneth Rexroth,” in Golden Gate: Interviews with 5 San Francisco Poets (San Francisco: Wingbow Press, 1976), 31.

  6. Chang Hsi-kuo, interview, 25 July 2002.

  7. For a detailed discussion of some of these precursors, see David Der-wei Wang’s Fin-de-siècle Splendor, especially the chapter titled “Confused Horizons: Science Fantasy,” 252–312.

  8. The brief overview of the development of science fiction in this introduction was derived from Huang Zhongtian, et al., A General Survey of Taiwan’s New Literature (Taiwan xinwenxue gaiguan) (Taipei: Daohe chubanshe, 1992), especially chapter 10, section 2, 543–55, as well as the 25 July 2002 interview with Chang Hsi-kuo.

  9. Darko Suvin, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 7–8.

  10. See Carl Freedman, Critical Theory and Science Fiction (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 2000), 17–18.

  11. Chang Hsi-kuo, interview, 25 July 2002.

  12. See for example Wang Yijia, “Science Fiction and Literary Sketches” (Kehuan xiaoshuo yu biji xiaoshuo), in Mirage (Huanxiang) inaugural issue (Taipei, 1989): 59–66. Also see Leo Ou-fan Lee’s comments in “Brief Discussion of Nebula Suite” (Xingyun zuqu jianlun), his preface to Chang Hsi-kuo’s The Nebula Suite (Xingyun zuqu) (Taipei: Zhishi xitong chuban youxian gongsi, 1980).

  13. See Chang Hsi-kuo’s afterword to Tale of a feather (Yiyu mao) (Taipei: Zhishi xitong chuban youxian gongsi, 1991) 203–4.

  14. See Wang Jianyuan, “Commentary” (Pingzhu), appended to Chang’s “City of the Bronze Statue” (Tongxiang Cheng) as it appeared in Chang Hsi-kuo, ed., Anthology of Contemporary Science Fiction (Dangdai kehuan xiaoshuoxuan) (Taipei: Zhishi xitong chuban youxian gongsi, 1983), 113–15.

  15. Chang Hsi-kuo, afterword to Tale of a Feather, 204.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The translation of Chang Hsi-kuo’s trilogy took approximately eighteen months to complete, mostly with time snatched on weekends, during vacations, or after work. Rendering Professor Chang’s wonderful novel into English was as challenging as it was enjoyable. I can’t say that I have be
en entirely successful in capturing all the nuances of the original, especially the puns and wordplay that the author so revels in, but I have striven to capture the verve, humor, and intelligence of the original. If I have managed to covey even a fraction of the pleasure I have found in the novel, then I must count the translation a success.

  As in any project of this scope, many individuals have made contributions in one way or another. I would like to thank David Der-wei Wang for introducing me to Chang Hsi-kuo’s science fiction, for allowing me to translate The City Trilogy for Columbia University’s Taiwan literature series, and for his enthusiastic support for Taiwan literature and its translation. Professor Chang Hsi-kuo has also been supportive and helpful at all stages. A word of thanks is due Jennifer Crewe, editorial director at Columbia, for seeing this book through production and working to overcome all difficulties. My sincere thanks to Howard Goldblatt, il miglior fabbro, for his example and encouragement over the years and for his kind words for this project. A tip of the hat to Robert Hegel, friend and mentor, for Han dynasty official titles. I am grateful to Leslie Kriesel, my editor at Columbia, for yet another fine job—this translation has benefited from her keen eye and attention to detail. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange for supporting the translation. And special thanks must, as always, go to my wife Yingtsih, herself a translator, who read and commented on the entire manuscript. This translation is dedicated to her.

  ONE

  FIVE JADE DISKS

  PROLOGUE

  The bronze statue towered more than 330 meters above the city center and covered an area in excess of 6,700 square meters. The city stood on a vast grassy plain, but all that could be seen from 80 kilometers away was the huge statue, shining under the purple sun of the Huhui planet. According to travelers in those days, the most notable feature of the planet visible from a spaceship was the Bronze Statue of Sunlon1 City. It was more magnificent even than the Golden Palace of the capital, and was unique not only on the Huhui planet but also in the universe.