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Fei Dao

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

Pen-name of Jia Liyuan (1983-    ) an author and PhD candidate in the Chinese department of Tsinghua University, Beijing. Under his real name, he has published works of sf criticism, including the Han Song study "Gloomy China: China's Image in Han Song's Science Fiction" (March 2013 Science Fiction Studies), and also spoken out as a provocative defender of sf in China, noting that it is hardly an insult any more to refer to it as "children's literature", when the State defines children as anyone under eighteen – a reasonable sector of the sf readership in any country. Under his pseudonym, he has been substantially more prolific in fiction, beginning with "Pixie Li de Jujishou" ["The Sniper in Leather Shoes"] (December 2003 Kehuan Shijie), and including an acclaimed but as yet unproduced screenplay.

"Mogui de Toulu" (January 2007 Shijie Kehuan Bolan trans David Hull as "The Demon's Head" November 2012 Renditions) has a foreign scientist preserving the active brain of an assassinated warlord (see Identity Transfer), only to discover that separation from his physical body has deprived the infamous dictator of all his military passions. Instead, he becomes, literally and metaphorically, entirely cerebral (see Psychology), more interested in conversation than in the battles of his physical existence. As in similar meditations of bioethics presented in work by Wang Jinkang, questions arise as to whether the repentant brain remains culpable (in fact, it dispassionately recommends the death penalty for itself), and whether its belligerence will be restored if it is transplanted to a cloned body (see Clones; see Crime and Punishment). With clear roots in Pulp sf, but also in the didactic traditions of the Chinese golden age, it ably combines Jia's hybrid role as a commentator upon sf, and a contributor to it. [JonC]

Jia Liyuan

born Chifeng, Inner Mongolia: 1983

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