Ep 64 - Chen Qiufan and Coming of the Light with Francesco Verso

‘Suppose the universe is a program. Everything that we can observe is the result of the machine-executable code. But the cosmic microwave background can be understood as the record of some earlier version of the source code.’

In the sixty forth episode of The Translated Chinese Fiction Podcast we bear witness to the Coming of the Light (开光 / Kāiguāng), penned by the shaman-consulting Google graduate himself; it’s Stan, it’s the man, it’s Chen Qiufan. And hark – what’s this? Waves and photons in the shape of noted publisher Francesco Verso surge from the underscreen to puncture my cybernetic solipsism, but will our agile enterprise decode the universe before its unravelling, or are all digital startups nought but the initiation of the end?

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// NEWS ITEMS //

• READ: A Ramble Through the Heart: A Semi-Coherent Attempt at Self-Justification by Chua Chim Kang, tr Tan Dan Feng, from Renditions Issue 96

• LISTEN: My Scandinavian nemesis strikes again - Owlish and Other Translated Languages with Natascha Bruce

• ROUNDTABLE: Can Chinese Science Fiction Transcend Binary Thinking?

• REVIEW: TrChFic named ‘Shiver-Worthy Runner-Up’ in: {Scary’s Voices} Sound Bites for November 26th

- // WORD OF THE DAY //

(云 - yún - cloud)

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// MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE //

• Chan/Zen Buddhism

• Zhongguancun - the Silicon Valley of Beijing

• Solarpunk - according to the BBC

• Wired’s article on Silicon Valley Buddhism

• And…Wired’s brilliant article on Chen Qiufan - some more evidence of his interest in the shamans of China’s periphery

• the PRC's internet/gaming addiction camps