Future Imperfect: Using the Future to Critique the Present

ABSTRACT: Beginning with a discussion of Liang Qichao’s 1902 unfinished novel A Future History of New China, this article examines four twenty-first century science fiction works by Han Song, Liu Cixin, Chan Koonchung, and Hao Jingfang – arguing that each work uses a future-perfect narrative mode to comment on the present. In contrast to the conventional wisdom that one may learn from the past to improve conditions in the present, this article instead contends that one implication of these works is that a focus on the future can – somewhat paradoxically – inhibit the possibility of meaningful political reform in the present. KEYWORDS: China, science fiction, future perfect, cruel optimism, political reform.