科幻能與傳統苗族文化碰撞出什麽化學反應？
觀察者韓松記於丹寨
新華社貴陽7月2日電（記者韓松）中國的扶貧事業正在吸引新的參與者——科幻作家。
在扶貧項目貴州黔東南苗族侗族自治州丹寨縣萬達小鎮建成一周年之際,15名中國、美國和加拿大的科幻作家來到這裡搜集創作素材。
活動的組織者之一萬達集團的魏薇說,中國正在推進人類歷史上規模最大的扶貧工程,這個過程本身就能產生很多科幻靈感。科幻作家參與文化扶貧,能讓丹寨的名字被更多人知道。
丹寨是國家級貧困縣,苗族人口佔70%以上。萬達集團首創“企業包縣”扶貧模式,已在丹寨投資20億元,其中它在去年7月3日建成的萬達小鎮,著眼振興當地產業,保護苗族傳統文化,一年來吸引了500萬海內外旅遊者和投資者,帶動了當地脫貧。
全世界苗族人口超過1000萬,在中國主要聚居在貴州、湖南、雲南等省區。在國外他們分布在東南亞以及北美等地。
科幻作家在扶貧茶園參與了采茶活動,試圖創作茶葉等題材的科幻小說,以幫助提高丹寨農產品的知名度。但采茶工作並不容易。15名科幻作家汗流浹背氣喘籲籲工作了半個小時,采到的茶葉只有2兩,價值3元。
“這活真不容易。我們可以發明一種機器來做。”銀河獎得主江波說。
“人臉識別技術可以代替茶農采茶。”獲阿西莫夫讀者獎等獎的加拿大作家德裡克·昆什肯說。
“聽說采茶姑娘會把茶葉放到嘴裡咀嚼以品試品質,這也可以用機器來辦到。”青年科幻作家梁清散說。
萬達的扶貧茶園首期幫扶了1000名貧困茶農,他們人均年收入以前只有360元,現在是這個數的10倍。這些人僅僅是過去40年中國脫貧的7億人中的一小部分。剩下的約4000萬將在2020年全部脫貧。
作家們探討創造一種“丹寨朋克”科幻類型,來探討技術時代農民增加收入的途徑。
但昆什肯對引入機器仍感到有些擔憂,認為這可能奪去低技術人群的工作。“科幻作家設想未來能通過一套新機制來解決這個問題,比如設立‘終生貸款’或‘普遍收入’來保障人們的基本生活。”他說。
在訪問一個仍在使用東漢時期手工造紙術作坊時,來自美國的勞倫斯·舍恩驚奇地發現了一種像布的特殊紙張——人們可以用毛筆在杯子裡沾上清水,然後在這紙上反覆書寫文字,便能呈現出跟墨水一樣的效果。
“我認為這個技術對於那些想練習書寫克林貢文的人來說,簡直太棒了。”這位雨果獎獲得者、美國科幻奇幻協會董事說。他想訂購一些這種“水寫布”,作為禮物送給7月的第二十五屆克林貢語言大會。
克林貢語是科幻電影《星際迷航》中外星人克林貢人的語言。在現實世界,也有很多《星際迷航》的粉絲在說它。
▲ 克林貢語愛情詩
作坊的主人潘玉華說,發掘傳統文化遺產資源是當地脫貧的一種新方式,但沒有想到它還能對宇宙文明做貢獻。
在訪問一個由上世紀五十年代由蘇聯援建的水銀礦遺址的路上,江波和另一位科幻作家寶樹探討一個問題:假如苗族在神秘的深山中建立了自己的高技術社會,那會怎樣呢?或許,便會改變歷史吧,也許是苗族來對別人進行扶貧。
第一次來到亞洲的加拿大科幻作家凱麗·羅布森說,貧困是一個值得科幻關注的全球問題,即便在加拿大和美國,也有比較嚴重的貧富差距。
昆什肯說:“我以前的創作重點是物理、化學、生物和天文領域,這次我將更多關注社會和文化問題。”
加拿大作家阿蕾克斯·德拉莫妮卡說,她考慮寫一個故事:外星飛船在丹寨著陸。“外星人會選擇在中國或印度著陸,這裡是地球上發展最快的地方,而北美落伍了。”
作家們還向丹寨捐贈科幻圖書並建立了一個“全球科幻作家工作坊”。活動的組織者之一、未來事務管理局局長姬少亭說,希望有一天苗家孩子能讀到這些科幻書,他們的未來將因此發生改變。
丹寨縣作家協會主席劉玉龍說,希望作家們利用苗族的神話傳說來創作全新的科幻。
當地苗族文化研究者潘廣淑說:“我們以前沒有見過科幻作家。我確信他們的來訪能給丹寨帶來好處。我們不僅生活在過去和現在,也要進入未來。科學和想象對貧困地區的少數民族同樣重要。”
China's Poverty alleviation campaign inspires sci-fi writers
GUIYANG, July 1 (Xinhua) -- China's poverty reduction program is attracting new participants -- science fiction writers.
Just days before its first anniversary, fifteen sci-fi writers from China, the United States and Canada went to Wanda Town, a Wanda Group poverty alleviation project in the southwestern province of Guizhou, to collect material for new stories.
Wanda executive Wei Wei, one of the organizers of the trip, described China's poverty alleviation program, the most ambitious attempt ever to raise the living standards of millions of people, as a great source of sci-fi inspiration.
Wanda, a real estate conglomerate, has contributed two billion yuan (about 320 million U.S. dollars) to poverty-stricken county Danzhai, much of which has been spent on theme park Wanda Town. The theme in question is the culture and history of the Miao ethnic group and the park has attracted five million tourists and investors worldwide since it opened on July 3 last year.
China is home to more than nine million Miao, who live in mainly in Guizhou, Hunan and Yunnan provinces. In Southwest Asia and North America, they are called Hmong. The people became widely known in the West when they were featured in the Clint Eastwood movie, Gran Torino. There is a claimed genetic relationship between Hmong-Miao peoples and Mon-Khmer people dating back 18,000 years. The Miao have distinctive language, architecture, clothing and religious rituals.
TOILING IN THE TEA GARDEN
The writers were invited to pick tea. The fifteen managed to collected just 100 grams of tea between them in half and hour, a bounty worth the astonishing total of three yuan (about 50 U.S. cents).
"The job's difficulty is beyond any sci-fi writer's imagination. We should invent a machine to do it, " said Jiang Bo from Shanghai, and winner of China's Galaxy award.
"The facial recognition technology could be used in tea picking," said Derek Kunsken from Canada, winner of the Asimov readers award.
▲ Derek Kunsken
"I heard that the local women chew the leaves to test the quality. A machine could also do that," said young sci-fi writer Liang Qingsan from Beijing.
The tea garden was built by Wanda as a gift for farmers whose annual per capita income used to be a mere 360 yuan (about 60 U.S. dollars). Now, they each make around ten times that amount. These 1,000 tea-growers are just a tiny fraction of the 700 million rural people to have been raised out of poverty over the past 40 years. The 40 million who remain below the national poverty line are to be freed from their destitution by 2020.
The writers discussed the possibility of creating a new sci-fi genre "Danzhai Punk" to promote local tea and other agricultural products. However, Kunsken worried that the introduction of machines would deprive low-skilled people of their jobs. Sci-fi writers should design futuristic mechanisms such as "life-long loans" or "universal income" to guarantee their basic needs, he said.
When visiting a plant where craftsmen still make paper by hand as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago, Lawrence Schoen from the United States was surprised to find a unique substance. A brush dipped in a cup of water can then be used to write on a cloth-like sheet and somehow render characters as if in black ink.
"I think they'd be perfect for Klingon speakers who want to practice writing Klingon characters," said the Hugo award winner and a member of the board of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He wondered if he would find the "Water Writing Cloth" on Amazon so he could order them in time for the 25th Klingon Language Conference in July.
The Klingon is an artificial language used by Klingons, fictional extraterrestrial humanoid warrior species in the science fiction franchise Star Trek. In the real world, it is spoken by many Star Trek fans.
Pan Yuhua, owner of the paper factory, said he was happy to enable rural people to earn more but also to make a contribution to civilizations across the universe.
REVERSING HISTORY
On the way to visit an abandoned mercury plant built in the 1950s with the help of the Soviet Union, Jiang Bo and Bao Shu discussed what would happen if Miao people established a high-tech society. That might reverse history and it would be the Miao to lift other ethnic groups out of poverty, they speculated.
Poverty is a global issue and a worthy subject for sci-fi, said Canadian writer Kelly Robson, who was in Asia for the first time, adding that even in Canada and the United States there are huge disparities between rich and poor.
"My focus used to be physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy, but this time I will pay more attention to social and cultural subjects, " said Kunsken.
Alyx Dellamonica from Canada is considering a story about the arrival of extraterrestrials in Danzhai. "Aliens will choose China and India as the landing sites, as they are the fastest growing regions on the planet, while North America is declining significantly," she said.
The writers also donated books to the town and established a workshop for sci-fi writers worldwide who are interested in Danzhai and Miao culture. Ji Shaoting, head of Future Affairs Administration, a private agency providing assistance for young sci-fi writers and a co-organizer of the trip, said she hoped the Miao people would read the books which could change their lives.
"We hope that you will write completely new stories based on our Miao legends, "said Liu Yulong, chairman of the writers' association of Danzhai County.
"We had never met any sci-fi writers before. I believe your visit will be good for Danzhai, as we do not only live in the past and present, but also will survive in a future world. Science and imagination are important for Miao people as well," said Pan Guangshu, a local researcher on Miao culture.
| 作者| 韓松，著名科幻作家。現任新華社對外新聞編輯部副主任兼中央新聞採訪中心副主任，中國作家協會會員，中國科普作家協會會員。作品多次在海內外獲得大獎，並被譯為英文、意大利文、日文和希伯來文。主要著作包括《地鐵》《高鐵》《軌道》《火星照耀美國》《宇宙墓碑》《紅色海洋》等。
| 攝影 |蘇小七
| 來源| 新華社
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