| Sumario: | This article focuses on contemporary Chinese science fiction, specifically the political elements in Liu Cixin's (b.1963) critical utopian novel China 2185 [Zhongguo 2185], written in 1989 against the social and political background of China in the 1980s. I analyze China 2185 at the "iconic level," at the "discrete level," and at the level of "generic form," in the framework of Tom Moylan's study of the critical utopian novel. I also relate this novel to other contemporary Chinese sf narratives, as well as to Liu's other works. The critical utopia in the novel is part of the political vision and practice that Liu shares with contemporary Chinese intellectuals of the late 1980s that reject the domination of one party and of authoritarian rule, and that call for a democratic system in China. The novel foresees important issues in post-socialist China such as the consequences of the aging of the population and subsequent gerontocracy, and the impact of digital information resources and the Internet on China's political system. Liu amplifies both sociopolitical problems and the potential for change in mainland China and conjures forth an imaginary future transformation in order to create a critical distance from the present.
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