http://uncannymagazine.com/article/fo...Some interesting ideas, lifeless and dull execution.

Read as part of Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation.The title says it all, as the city of Beijing is actually folding (think Inception or Doctor Strange). There are three spaces (inhabited by three social classes) that get to take turns to be above ground. Needless to say, First Space gets to enjoy the fresh air the most, as they are the privileged class. Second Space consists of white collars, while Third Space literally takes care of the trash.The main charac...

With an undaunted view of class issues and the inequitable distribution of wealth, Jingfang builds a moving tale of honor and family love. Folding Beijing offers excellent and truly fascinating world building. This is the story of Lao Dao, a middle-aged waste worker's story, and his desperate risk-taking to earn enough money to send his adopted child to Kindergarten. I'm looking forward to reading more by Hao Jingfang who has degrees in physics, ecomonics, and management. This story is the winne...

The translation by Ken Liu deserves an extra star. I DON'T LIKE THE STORY AT ALL. The characters are flat and boring. The only interesting thing about this story is the folding of Beijing, but the author did not write much about how this kind of "folding" is achieved. Seriously, at the very moment when I finished reading this story, it made me doubt the Hugo Award.

Visually, the shifting skyscrapers of ‘Folding Beijing’ brought to mind the film ‘Dark City,’ but the mechanics of this scenario are all-too-human, and underlaid with a cynical observation that “they would do this if they could.” Europe has taken one approach to the ‘problem’ of automation advances making menial jobs practically obsolescent. Here, Hao Jingfang theorizes what China might do. This future city, a technological marvel, has a strict caste system, which the reader sees through the eye...

I listened to Folding Beijing on StarShipSofa (podcast) as part of their brief Hugo Award showcase series. It's brilliant. The world building is really imaginative and well thought out. The story is interesting and really told well. The narration by Katherine Inskip is stellar also. Go listen right now. Or read it in Uncanny.

Found the central metaphor a little too on-point, if anything, and some later passages have the air of a lecture, but overall, this is a good story: grappling with some weighty issues but humanising them with an engaging lead character and some beautiful prose (always hard to know, in those instances, whether to credit the writer or translator; a bit of both, I hope!).Very much enjoyed and recommended.

Very imaginative story about a city that literally folds and rotates every day. The city is divided into 3 parts, but only one of them stays above the surface at any point; the other 2 fold up and go underground. I really enjoyed most of the story, but the climax was a bit info-dumpy and its 'message' wasn't to my taste. Still, it was a very striking and effective metaphor, and stayed in my mind for quite a while after I finished it.I have a bit more to say but can't do so without spoilers:(view...

I really liked this. Like many others I read it as part of my Hugo packet. This is my favorite for novelette. The plot itself is subtle and subdued compared to most science fiction. In that regard it's more like literary fiction, although the writing itself isn't fancy (not that I'm criticizing Liu's smooth translation). Of course, the idea of the folding city is pure science fiction that serves primarily to interrogate class issues and economics. The main character, Lao Dao, seems flat at first...

Essentially to be read as a commentary on class and Chinese society (indeed, class and global society), this reads quite formalistically (although this may be a matter of translation). Interesting but not quite as startling as proponents of the new Chinese science fiction might like us to think.For another (and I think better) Chinese science fiction story, you might try Xia Jia's 'A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight', also translated by Ken Liu and available on Clarkesworld online. Jia's story is e...

The Nalendar refers to the name of the river in this story. Umri, the main character agrees to take a particular skink with her on a ship. This is a fantasy world full of gods, and the skink is some type of god. Umri is attempting to travel away from an undesirable suitor.The skink is most likely devious, but Umri decides to help him anyway. A tale of an ancient king that offended the Nalendar is told on board, and this tale has implications for the plot.A very enjoyable fantasy short story. If

I liked this issue more than the last one. My favourite stories were:Pockets - I loved the idea and the message it carried! A girl finds things in her pocketsThe Nalendar - A girl and a small god travel together - I liked how the story unfolded and the fairy-taley feelFolding Beijing - Beijing is divided into 3 districts that don't interact with each other. & Love Letters to Things Lost and Gained - I love all things connected to biology but I also enjoyed character's journey.in that order I kno...

I read this story as part of my 2016 Hugo awards finalist reading marathon.Despite being a finalist because of its inclusion in a slate, the work is not only enjoyable, but also novel and interesting. I found quite interesting to read a book written by a Chinese author, to see the (current and future) world through the eyes of a different culture. The population and economic growth of modern China, its economic inequalities, and its technological and engineering marvels are central to Folding Be...

So the one good thing about being an economist and a reader is that you can usually tell when a story is being written by another economist. The story grappled with some very interesting notions of class, the issues of overpopulation, and perhaps even gender. The premise is fascinating, the execution interesting. Perhaps the conclusion falters a bit in its tameness, as all the built up tension merely dissipates anti-climatically. But overall, the story is good enough to be the best novelette ent...

4.5 stars for "Folding Beijing," a gem of a SF novelette, and the 2016 Hugo winner. It's free online at here at Uncanny Magazine. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:Lao Dao, a humble man who works in a waste processing plant in “Third Space” Beijing, sorting recyclable trash, finds a bottle with a message offering what for Lao Dao is a fortune, to take a message from a man in Second Space to a woman he loves who lives in First Space. Travel between the three areas is dangerous and illegal...

„Nalendar“ by Ann Leckie “Umri searched her memory for advise on being rid of a persistent god.“ Those pesky gods, not keeping their promises and dragging people into their business. Umri has enough problems (one, specifically) on her own...What a fun read! If I wasn‘t a big fan of Ann Leckie already, this might have done it. Can be found here at Uncanny Magazine:https://uncannymagazine.com/article/n...And the interview going with it:http://uncannymagazine.com/article/in...

The Nalendar by Ann Leckie. A short Fantasy story (free online at uncannymagazine.com) about a girl, Umri, who seeks to escape the advances of a certain slave broker called Rilhat Imk. Rilhat has a crush on Umri, wants to make her his princess. But it's also a story in which gods have decisive roles to play. Umri encounters a skink - it later turns out he's a god himself, though one who has lost much of his power -, who convinces her to take him with her to the north. However, he doesn't tell th...

I read a lot of speculative short fiction, so I decided to support the market by purchasing a subscription to Uncanny Magazine year 2, and Issue 2 from their first year came as part of the purchase. It was a great issue, and I’m looking forward to more. This issue contains 1 novelette, 5 short stories, 3 poems, 5 essays, and 2 interviews.An overall theme in the issue would be finding the things that are important to us. Of the short stories, my favorites are “The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral...

I am so happy that the wonderful Tadiana helps me find awesome free online shorts to read!

🇨🇳Contemporary Dystopian Chinese Sci-Fi🇨🇳This short story was referenced several times in Kai-fu Lee’s AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order which spurred my interest. Although I’m not usually a big short story fan this novelette is unique and provides an interesting look inside a futuristic Beijing divided into a distinct class system. Written by a highly educated Chinese woman, Folding Beijing explores the consequences of technology on society, specifically the lives