Han Song (writer)


Han Song is a Chinese science fiction writer and a journalist at the Xinhua News Agency.

Life

Born 1965 in Chongqing, Han works as a journalist for the state news agency Xinhua. His first short story collection, Gravestone of the Universe 宇宙墓碑 was published in 1981 in the Taiwanese journal Huanxiang 幻象. It waited ten years for publication in the People's Republic of China because publishers found its tone too dark.
Han has received the Chinese Galaxy Award for fiction six times. The LA Times described him as China's premier science fiction writer.

Work

According to the China Daily, Han describes himself as a "staunch nationalist at heart", and his work is critical of China's desire to Westernize as fast as possible: He believes that "fast-track development does not agree with core Asian values", and that adoption of the "alien entities" of science, technology and modernization by the Chinese will turn them into monsters.
A principal subject of Han's work is the conflict between China and the United States, but he also satirizes the overreaching Chinese state. Most of his works are banned in mainland China.