China buying up Soviet science fiction and adding it to the school curriculum explained at the National Centre RUSSIA

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A meeting of the Literary Club "What to Read?!" at the National Centre RUSSIA explored a question that concerns many readers: why is classic science fiction — the kind written by Ivan Yefremov, Alexander Belyayev and other renowned authors — fading into the background? How did contemporary literature come to favour fantasy increasingly often? And does this mean that the Soviet dream of science, progress and space has died?

The Chief Editor of the Komsomolskaya Pravda media holding, writer, documentary filmmaker and Associate Professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Yevgeny Sazonov, answered this question firmly and unequivocally: no, the dream has not died.

"The reason there is so much fantasy and so little science fiction is simply fashion. Fantasy is much easier to sell and create: writing about sorcerers is easier, particularly when there are so many examples and artificial intelligence is available to help. But science fiction is actually in demand. It is needed. There is even a theory that the Soviet scientific breakthrough was partly driven by the science fiction that people read and grew up with," said Yevgeny Sazonov.

To support this argument, the speaker gave a striking and unexpected example: over the past few years, China has been actively acquiring science fiction from around the world, particularly the rights to Soviet science fiction.

"Over the past three or four years, China has been buying up science fiction on an astonishing scale, particularly classic Soviet works and the rights to them, translating them into Chinese and publishing them domestically. They are also adding these works to the school curriculum. Why? So that by reading science fiction, children not only learn positive values from Russian science-fiction writers such as Ivan Yefremov and others, but also develop the kind of rational thinking that fosters inventiveness, cast off their blinkers and dream not of a magic wand, but of a spaceship that can travel faster than light. Science fiction is therefore in demand; there simply is not much of it on the market," he concluded.

The Literary Club "What to Read?!" is an original educational project by the National Centre RUSSIA aimed at promoting reading and encouraging public discussion of important contemporary issues. Watch the full recording of the meeting devoted to the works of Ivan Yefremov via the link.