4 ms·

Folding Beijing – 2016 Hugo Best Novelette

56 points by z3t1 10y ago

a_wang 10y ago
it's not fiction, but reality
- justicezyx 10y ago
  A universal rendering of the eternal struggle of human race.
rabboRubble 10y ago
Here's the Chinese if anybody is interested in attempting to read in the original language. https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/ https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/
- kkylin 10y ago
  Thanks! Anyone out there know if there is a way to read this in traditional (as opposed to simplified) Chinese?
  - ttflee 10y ago
    Try this link: http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=zh-TW&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsmth.net%2Fbbs0an.php%3Fpath%3D%2Fgroups%2Fliteral.faq%2FSF%2Fyuanchuang%2Fwangyou%2Fown%2Ffangfang727 http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=z...
    - rabboRubble 10y ago
      Be careful with machine translated Simp to Trad. Traditional to Simplified character mapping is 1 to many. When plugging Simplified into Google Translate, the translation therefore is a many to one and Google frequently doesn't get it right. I'm not sure how Google determines the mapping, perhaps by absolute greatest frequency? Here's an example of what I mean with a commonly used character: (Simplified) 复 maps to (Traditional) 複, 復, and 覆
  - rabboRubble 10y ago
    See my caution below about machine language translation Simp to Trad. TL/DR, it doesn't work reliably. My rough estimate is maybe an 20% error rate for characters with a 1 Traditional to many Simplified mapping. Even with Google Translate.
fatman13gg 10y ago
--Spoiler alert--- After reading the first chapter and beginning of the second chapter, to me, it seems not a good piece at all. They had the technology of building a folding city for god sake, yet the protagonist is doing some heavy labor dealing with the city's trash. You would imagine such work would long have been automated. Actually, this always has been a problem when I read sci-fi story, some setting are just fabricated to make the plot more emotional but never really fit the common sense of, at least to me, the development of technology. I certainly hope this whole Chinese writer winning an award wasn't some political move to attract attention.
- ZeroGravitas 10y ago
  Oh the irony, you really should have finished reading before commenting, as this is very explicitly addressed in the story. It could be argued that this is exactly what makes it realistic or at least provides verisimilitude.
  - fatman13gg 10y ago
    Okay. I just finished reading the whole thing. Still a lot of the things don't add up. A lot of the things don't feel right. I can't put it into exact word. But in the link provided by rabboRubble (https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/ https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/), it seems that most reasonable Chinese sci-fi readers think the story is lame if you read the top review. And that's about how I feel. --Spoiler Alert-- The whole story actually doesn't seem to have anything to do with sci-fi at all. The plot is evolving around a man delivering letter? What? Is it in Victorian or is it in the future? All sci-fi elements are just stuffed in there and has no actual meat. I think for a good sci-fi, the author should first think through what technology exists in that world and then develop story that is confined to the setting. Not like this story which sci-fi only served as some convenient facts for author to exploit reader's emotion. Edit. And wow... thanks for all the down votes, guys. Hope all you've down voted read the whole folding BJ already.
    - rossitter 10y ago

56 points by z3t1 10y ago

a_wang 10y ago

it's not fiction, but reality

justicezyx 10y ago
A universal rendering of the eternal struggle of human race.

rabboRubble 10y ago

Here's the Chinese if anybody is interested in attempting to read in the original language. https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/ https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/

kkylin 10y ago
Thanks! Anyone out there know if there is a way to read this in traditional (as opposed to simplified) Chinese?
- ttflee 10y ago
  Try this link: http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=zh-TW&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsmth.net%2Fbbs0an.php%3Fpath%3D%2Fgroups%2Fliteral.faq%2FSF%2Fyuanchuang%2Fwangyou%2Fown%2Ffangfang727 http://translate.google.com.hk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=z...
  - rabboRubble 10y ago
    Be careful with machine translated Simp to Trad. Traditional to Simplified character mapping is 1 to many. When plugging Simplified into Google Translate, the translation therefore is a many to one and Google frequently doesn't get it right. I'm not sure how Google determines the mapping, perhaps by absolute greatest frequency? Here's an example of what I mean with a commonly used character: (Simplified) 复 maps to (Traditional) 複, 復, and 覆
- rabboRubble 10y ago
  See my caution below about machine language translation Simp to Trad. TL/DR, it doesn't work reliably. My rough estimate is maybe an 20% error rate for characters with a 1 Traditional to many Simplified mapping. Even with Google Translate.

fatman13gg 10y ago

--Spoiler alert--- After reading the first chapter and beginning of the second chapter, to me, it seems not a good piece at all. They had the technology of building a folding city for god sake, yet the protagonist is doing some heavy labor dealing with the city's trash. You would imagine such work would long have been automated. Actually, this always has been a problem when I read sci-fi story, some setting are just fabricated to make the plot more emotional but never really fit the common sense of, at least to me, the development of technology. I certainly hope this whole Chinese writer winning an award wasn't some political move to attract attention.

ZeroGravitas 10y ago
Oh the irony, you really should have finished reading before commenting, as this is very explicitly addressed in the story. It could be argued that this is exactly what makes it realistic or at least provides verisimilitude.
- fatman13gg 10y ago
  Okay. I just finished reading the whole thing. Still a lot of the things don't add up. A lot of the things don't feel right. I can't put it into exact word. But in the link provided by rabboRubble (https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/ https://read.douban.com/reader/ebook/20769128/), it seems that most reasonable Chinese sci-fi readers think the story is lame if you read the top review. And that's about how I feel. --Spoiler Alert-- The whole story actually doesn't seem to have anything to do with sci-fi at all. The plot is evolving around a man delivering letter? What? Is it in Victorian or is it in the future? All sci-fi elements are just stuffed in there and has no actual meat. I think for a good sci-fi, the author should first think through what technology exists in that world and then develop story that is confined to the setting. Not like this story which sci-fi only served as some convenient facts for author to exploit reader's emotion. Edit. And wow... thanks for all the down votes, guys. Hope all you've down voted read the whole folding BJ already.
  - rossitter 10y ago