Last November, thousands of diehard Chinese science-fiction fans thronged to Chengdu for the first ever AsiaCon, a high-profile convention that drew in writers and film-makers from Asia, Europe, the US and the Middle East. The mayor of the capital of Sichuan province gave his blessing against a digitised backdrop of a blue galaxy, space ships and distant planets. Other speeches celebrated how science and the future could be brought together in such a compelling genre. All in all, the world seemed a less apocalyptic place back then.
去年11月,數千名中國鐵桿科幻迷湧向成都,參加亞洲的首屆科幻大會,這個備受矚目的盛會吸引了來自亞洲、歐洲、美國和中東的作家和電影製作人。成都市長出現在由藍色銀河、宇宙太空船和遙遠行星組成的電子背景前,爲大會致以祝福。其他嘉賓的演講稱頌了科學與未來將如何在這個引人入勝的創作門類中得以融合。那個時候,世界還不那麼像末日。