
The Wandering Earth: A Reflection of the Chinese New Right - bookofjoe
http://chuangcn.org/2019/08/wandering-earth/
======
alexgmcm
I wish there was a more mainstream 'Prometheanism' in the West.

It often seems science and technology is only ever brought up to be demonised
due to perceived danger (look at most articles on AI) or high cost (look at
articles about CERN, ITER, NASA etc.)

Although there is some pro-science/tech sentiment in Silicon Valley in the
West it often just seems to extend as far as the next quick buck - I mean is a
new mobile app or social media network really pushing the boundaries of human
knowledge/capability?

~~~
mark_l_watson
I agree. I had not thought about it before, but the Chinese sci-fi really does
champion hyper advances in technology. It is difficult to find “technology
gone wrong” themes in their sci-fi.

~~~
alexgmcm
Yeah, it reminds me of the more optimistic 'Golden Age' sci-fi in the West - I
mean Asimov etc.

~~~
xbmcuser
Even Asimov had rouge ai's and killer robots

------
mark_l_watson
Interesting background.

After discovering South Korean sci-fi through Netflix years ago, I was sorry
to see Netflix drop this sci-fi content. Then about a year ago I read Liu
Cixin‘s trilogy, his other works, and Ken Liu’s Translations and his own
stories. All really good stuff that I enjoy simply because it has a different
feel to it.

Years ago, I enjoyed Lem’s sci-fi for similar reasons: it had a different feel
from American sci-fi.

------
maimeowmeow
How does a single movie review from a forum represent political leaning? The
review mentions that its a generic disaster movie.

------
jshaqaw
Phrases like left wing and right wing seem so culturally and historically
dependent as to lose all meaning when used universally.

~~~
dade_
Only the original definition from France makes any sense, left is for the
revolution, the right is against.

~~~
segfaultbuserr
> _left is for the revolution, the right is against._

It becomes ambiguous when the official position of the establishment is
historically revolutionary-leaning, and claims to follow the original
ideology, then the "left" can be interpreted as either (1) supporters of
current position of the establishment, or (2) revolutionaries who wish to
overthrow the establishment. It gets even more ambiguous if you describe the
positions in terms of civil rights, economic systems, foreign policies, etc,
you'll see the terms are used in all possible and incompatible ways, which is
a typical situation in a Chinese political discourse.

------
tomohawk
The author is mistaken. These are leftist nationalists. They are socialists
(members of the CCP) who are pursuing a nationalist agenda.

Mussolini famously created this toxic brew when he united socialism and
nationalism, calling it fascism. Mussolini was a fellow traveler with Lenin,
who congratulated Mussolini when he took control of Italy.

~~~
logicchains
Members of the CPP aren't all socialists. I first heard "可怜之士必有可恨之处" from a
party member, which translates roughly as "people people must have character
flaws (that explain why they are poor)"; regardless of which view we take of
socialism, I don't think anybody would consider that a socialist statement.

~~~
ttflee
My primary school teacher used this quite often.

