The conceptual development of the science-fiction industry and its main forms and features

Abstract

The term ‘science fiction (sci-fi) industry’ has developed only in the past two decades in China. It has gone through special cultural, economic and political backgrounds in its conceptual development. After years of evolution and under the influence of some influential sci-fi intellectual properties, the sci-fi industry has developed typical forms such as reading material, film and television programs, games, derivative products and cultural tourism. These forms are also the major means for the generation of sci-fi content and the dissemination of sci-fi culture. The sci-fi industry has three key features: it integrates culture with science and technology as production factors; it has both production capacity and consumer appeal; and it is made up of interconnected vertical and horizontal production chains.

Keywords

Science fiction sci-fi industry sci-fi forms sci-fi features China

1. Introduction

As a cultural form presenting scientific and technological innovation and imagination, science fiction (sci-fi) has demonstrated exceptional vibrancy in the current era, in which science and technology (S&T) and culture are deeply integrated. For example, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, which won the Hugo Award in 2015, had been translated into 35 languages and had sold more than 29 million copies globally by 2023 (Zhang and Ma, 2023). The Wandering Earth 2, a film based on Liu Cixin's The Wandering Earth that was premiered during the Spring Festival of 2023, produced total box-office revenue of more than 4 billion yuan. The film broke more than 30 Chinese film history records and ranked 10th in total box-office revenue of all Chinese films (Xinhua News, 2024a).

Recognizing the importance of sci-fi, the China Association for Science and Technology and the Beijing Municipal People's Government have together hosted seven editions of the China Science Fiction Convention. This national sci-fi event has become a significant platform for exchanges and cooperation between science, culture and industry (Beijing Daily, 2023). The 81st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which was held in Chengdu, China, in 2023, attracted more than 1200 guests and more than 20,000 sci-fi fans from 35 countries and regions, and it included a diverse program of more than 200 themed salons (Jiang et al., 2023).

According to the China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023, jointly released by the China Science Fiction Research Center and the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination at the Southern University of Science and Technology, the total turnover of the sci-fi industry increased from 45.635 billion yuan in 2018 to 87.75 billion yuan in 2022, up by 92.3% (Jia, 2023). The Annual Report on the Book Retail Market 2023 published by OpenBook ranked Liu Cixin as the best-selling author of the year (Xinhua News, 2024b).

These examples show that, in China, sci-fi is transforming from a niche culture into a dynamic genre, edging closer towards center stage. The sci-fi industry has ushered in a ‘spring’ season of rapid development.

The sci-fi industry is adding new strength to the cultural and creative industries, inspiring originality, demonstrating imagination and unlocking the vitality of culture-based S&T. The empowering function of sci-fi is increasingly significant. ‘Sci-fi +’ is being integrated into various sectors of industrial innovation and development, resulting in new business forms, such as sci-fi + city image shaping, sci-fi + youth education and sci-fi + technological innovation. These forms reflect energy in technological innovation, cultural creativity, imagination and industrial upgrading and have gained growing public recognition. One research team, for example, has explored the role of sci-fi in empowering urban development and has published a list of China's top 10 sci-fi cities (Zhao, 2023). The list was published in more than 60 authoritative media and local-government news outlets, such as the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Chongqing News, Nanjing News and Shenzhen News. This is testament to the far-reaching impact of sci-fi.

Sci-fi can stimulate people's interest in and curiosity about science and inspire their passion to explore the unknown. Because of this, the development of the sci-fi industry has received significant attention from the Chinese government. The State Council, the China Association for Science and Technology and the National Film Bureau, as well as local governments such as the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the Chengdu Municipal People's Government, have adopted a series of enabling policies and implemented plans to support the development of the industry. That has included setting up high-level platforms for promoting exchanges on sci-fi creation and sharing the outcomes of product development, strengthening the incubation mechanism of sci-fi industry projects, diversifying the vehicles of sci-fi consumption and stepping up the cultivation of sci-fi industry talent.

It is obvious that China's sci-fi industry is growing with strong momentum, and the government, market and consumers all have huge demand for the development of the industry and recognize its potential. Therefore, research on the sci-fi industry is important. This paper focuses on the conceptual development as well as the main forms and features of the sci-fi industry.

2. The conceptual development of the sci-fi industry and its connotations

2.1 The conceptual development of the sci-fi industry

The earliest discussion of the sci-fi industry appeared in an article published by Hugo Gernsback (1953) in his magazine Science-Fiction Plus. He argued that, in addition to two-dimensional forms such as sci-fi novels, radio, television, comics and films, the sci-fi industry was expanding into three-dimensional forms, including toys, tabletop games, ornaments, science teaching aids and clothing. However, he did not give a strict definition of the sci-fi industry. In later relevant studies by Western researchers, the term ‘sci-fi industry’ was also barely mentioned, and there was almost no in-depth discussion on the concept of ‘sci-fi industry’ at the macro level. Westfahl (1996) made possibly the only response to Gernsback's analysis with a discussion on the shape of the largest sci-fi industry of the time—the one created by the Star Trek movies. Other studies focused mainly on specific segments of the industry, such as sci-fi literature publishing, films and games. Schembri (1996) noted that the Hollywood film industry in the 1980s had four main functions: manufacture or creation, entrepreneurship and patronage, promotion and marketing, and consumption, which drove the transformation of sci-fi films from a concept into a commodity. Brouillette (2002) explored the correlation between the fanfare over Neuromancer and the American publishing environment in the 1980s. Carr (2020), using the sci-fi game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as an example, shared her views on topics such as disability and community from the angle of sci-fi games.

In China, the development of the sci-fi industry has moved through three stages: experimental practice and public discussion; government support and policy intervention; and academic interest and exploratory research. Our literature research shows that the sci-fi industry was first discussed by Huang (2001). Huang defined ‘popular science works and sci-fi industry’ as one of the 10 major types of science popularization activities. He also mentioned concepts such as sci-fi tourism and entertainment and proposed that, in promoting science popularization, China should put more emphasis on sci-fi creation, foster an enabling social environment for sci-fi investment and develop an expanded sci-fi industry. Zhang (2022) published an interview with Han Song, Yin Chuanhong, Yao Haijun and other sci-fi professionals in Cultural Monthly, suggesting that ‘the sci-fi industry is a highly systematic industry’, and that China's sci-fi industry had not yet taken shape, as there were substantial missing links in all chains. Yang (2002) pointed out that ‘the sci-fi industry is a very big industry’, dominated by sci-fi films and TV programs, publications, entertainment parks, toys and other derivatives. In the subsequent years, news reports with strong relevance to the sci-fi industry also appeared, such as Yu and Yang (2007), Dai et al. (2008), Wang (2010) and Wang (2011).

The above analysis shows that, in early discussions, people took different perspectives on the concept of the ‘sci-fi industry’. Some regarded the development of the industry as an important way to promote science popularization as part of a national campaign; others based their views on the development of businesses and industry. There were also discussions on the relationship between the sci-fi industry and the innovation capacity building of cities. However, until 2013, discussions focused mainly on the characteristics and role of the sci-fi industry rather than detailed elaboration of its specific definitions.

It is only in the past decade that we have seen more detailed discussion on the concept of the ‘sci-fi industry’. Wang (2013) pointed out that ‘the sci-fi industry is an industry related to the production and sale of sci-fi products. It consists of four components: creation, production, dissemination and consumption of sci-fi products. Its core is the cultural and creative industry underpinned by sci-fi content, including sci-fi exhibits, sci-fi publications, sci-fi film and TV, sci-fi animation, sci-fi toys, sci-fi games and sci-fi tourism’. Ao et al. (2014: 12) defined the sci-fi industry as ‘industry clusters and industrial systems composed of individuals and organizations, underpinning industries and related sectors in all segments of sci-fi creation, sci-fi product production, and sci-fi commodity trade and dissemination’. For researchers such as Wang and Ao et al., the sci-fi industry was a type of cultural and creative industry. Their research did not involve expanded discussions: they focused mainly on explaining the linkage between original sci-fi works and the production of sci-fi products and analysing the commercialization of sci-fi works.

Later studies further developed and expanded the definition of the sci-fi industry as a type of cultural industry driven by sci-fi creations at its core. San (2015) pointed out that:

The aggregation and value exchange of the five sectors of sci-fi publication, sci-fi animation, sci-fi film and TV, sci-fi games, sci-fi theme parks and exhibitions constitute the so-called sci-fi cultural industrial chain. The narrower version of the sci-fi cultural industrial chain is characterized by occasional occurrence and instability. The extended version of the chain, on the other hand, has a high degree of dependency, and most of the products, apart from those in the publication category, are inspired by ideas and concepts originated from sci-fi novels.

Liu et al. (2019) defined the sci-fi industry as ‘a scientific cultural creative industry with sci-fi creations at its core, hence it could also be called the sci-fi cultural creative industry’.

The most recent studies have highlighted the empowering function of the sci-fi industry. Jin (2021) defined the industry as:

… an emerging industry that integrates culture and science and technology, and a new business form that provides services of science and technology communication and cultural consumption. It is driven by modern science and technology, especially cutting-edge science and technology, centred on the scientific spirit and imagination, underpinned by industrialized design, production and manufacturing, and delivered through surreal narrative, audio-visual experience and immersive scenes.

San (2023) suggested that the core component of the sci-fi industry was the sci-fi cultural industry—a subset of the cultural creative industry with sci-fi creativity as its center; and that its extension included various sci-fi-related industries— the new ‘sci-fi +’ industries formed through integration with tourism, education, manufacturing, urban construction, S&T innovation and others. Together, the sci-fi cultural industry and sci-fi-related industries constitute the overall framework of the sci-fi industry. In the context of the digital economy, the definitions provided by Jin and San have all underscored the creative core and technical attributes of the industry and highlighted its empowering function. From this, we can see that the sci-fi industry has evolved from a simple industrial chain into a refined and systematic industrial system.

From the above analysis, we can conclude that the concept of the sci-fi industry is dynamic and is constantly evolving. As Wu Yan, a Chinese sci-fi scholar, put it in an interview, ‘the sci-fi industry is linked to the profound sci-fi culture. It reflects the pace of mankind's understanding of the world and exploration of the future, and goes through changes all the time’ (Shi, 2019). Although there is not yet a consensus on or a universal definition of the sci-fi industry, based on existing studies and industrial forms, the industry can be seen as a domain that generates economic value from sci-fi culture and aggregates sci-fi-related industries.

2.2 The contextual backgrounds in the conceptual development of the sci-fi industry

It is only relatively recently that sci-fi has moved to centre stage in China, unleashing its economic vitality and finding a place in policy discourse. Although the concept of the ‘sci-fi industry’ was first mentioned in Western research, its theoretical development and dissemination mainly took place in China. The term ‘sci-fi industry’ has developed only in the past two decades in China, and it has evolved under different cultural, economic and political backgrounds at various stages in its evolution.

The cultural context (before 2015)

As an imported product, science fiction has been associated with the shaping of the scientific spirit since it was introduced into China in the late Qing Dynasty. It answered the call for intellectual enlightenment and the popularization of scientific knowledge and spoke to the hope of the Chinese people for a country strengthened through S&T. Lu Xun observed in the preface of his translation of De la Terre à la Lune that ‘to inspire the creativity of the Chinese people, we must start from science fiction’ (Xu, 1986). Since 1904, when Huangjiang Diaosou published China's first sci-fi novel, A Novel of the Lunar Colony, increasing numbers of Chinese people have picked up their pens to write sci-fi novels. However, before 1978, due to the needs of the times, sci-fi had always assumed the role of science popularization and was included in works designed to interest children in science. In 1978, China held the National Science Congress. With the arrival of ‘the spring of science’, sci-fi creation on China's mainland entered a new boom period, and the purpose of sci-fi creation also shifted from science popularization to mass entertainment (Tang, 2003). As a result, the publication channels for sci-fi novels expanded, and more foreign sci-fi films started to be introduced. The growing audience for sci-fi culture turned sci-fi from a niche culture into a popular culture.

From the start of the twenty-first century, the increasing variety of sci-fi culture and its widening audience base led to an increase in income from sci-fi novels, film and television programs, games and activities. That process also led to the establishment of sci-fi companies, such as Time Vision (founded in Chengdu in 2011), which launched the Chinese Nebula Award; Storycom (founded in Tianjin in 2013), which specializes in the development and copyright trade of sci-fi film and TV projects; the Future Affairs Administration (founded in Shanghai in 2014), which focuses on planning sci-fi activities and creating sci-fi works; and Chengdu Yi Xing Culture and Media Co. Ltd (SCIFI Fanspace), which was also founded in 2014 and focuses on developing sci-fi derivatives.

Step by step, the sci-fi industry has transformed from an abstract idea into a clear image, and the concept of ‘sci-fi industry’ has also received growing academic attention. Many scholars have proposed definitions of the sci-fi industry.

Economic context (2015–2019)

On 23 August 2015, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem won the 73rd Hugo Award for best sci-fi novel. Official media outlets, including the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and CCTV News, covered the event. During the Spring Festival of 2019, the film The Wandering Earth was released in China. Its total box-office revenue reached 4.655 billion yuan and was the second highest of the year. The attention surrounding the book and the film speeded up the development of the sci-fi industry, which triggered vigorous discussions about Chinese sci-fi works, sci-fi TV and films and the industry itself.

Between 2015 and 2019, many new sci-fi industry companies and industry organizations were established. The companies included the Chengdu-based Eight Light Minutes Culture, the Shanghai-based Three Bodies Universe, and the Beijing-based Fangjing Culture Studio and Huanchuang Future Culture Communication Co. Ltd Organizations included the Science Fiction Committee of the China Science Writers Association, the China Science Fiction Academy, the Sichuan Science Fiction Society, the Science Fiction Committee of Jiangsu Science Writers Association, the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination at the Southern University of Science and Technology, the Science & Fantasy Growth Foundation and the Shanghai Pudong Science Fiction Association. Several important cross-sector platforms for exhibiting Chinese sci-fi were also launched, including the China Science Fiction Convention, the China Science Fiction Film Week (Exhibition) and the Blue Planet Science Fiction Film Festival. They attracted participants from S&T, investment, culture, and film and TV, and provided an important forum for cross-sector exchanges and cooperation.

In 2017, recognizing the huge economic value of the sci-fi industry, the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination at the Southern University of Science and Technology started to systematically calculate the business revenue of China's sci-fi industry. This led to the publication of the China Science Fiction Industry Report. The report has been jointly released with the China Science Fiction Research Center since 2019. As the 2019 report showed, the revenue of China's sci-fi industry soared from 10 billion yuan in 2016 to 65.817 billion yuan in 2019. During this period, an increasing number of researchers were working on the sci-fi industry and had proposed definitions of the industry in the economic context (see Liu et al., 2019; San, 2015).

Political context (2020–present)

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced people around the world to work from home and communicate online. During this period, the concept of the ‘metaverse’, originating from Neal Stephenson's 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, attracted widespread attention. After Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021, the metaverse has been regarded as the next wave of innovation after the mobile internet, and the futuristic vision of sci-fi works has once again captured people's attention. In recent years, China has been actively promoting innovation in S&T and making plans for developing future industries. Sci-fi works may play a role in promoting scientific and technological innovation (Cao et al., 2023), so sci-fi is drawing increasing attention at the policy level.

To take advantage of the positive impact of influential sci-fi intellectual property (IP) and promote the long-term development of the sci-fi industry, the Chinese government and public organizations have begun to incorporate the industry into national and local development strategies. For example, the State Film Bureau and the China Association for Science and Technology issued the Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films in 2020, which proposed to develop sci-fi films as an important growth area and a new driver for the high-quality development of the film industry. The State Council issued the National Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2021–2035) in 2021, which proposed a detailed support program to promote the development of the sci-fi industry. According to our research, more than 40 central and local policy documents related to the sci-fi industry were issued between 2020 and 2023.

The sci-fi industry policies have played an important role in guiding the development of the industry, integrating industry resources, meeting market demand, and promoting S&T innovation. The number of sci-fi companies, events, cross-sectoral cooperative endeavors and flagship activities has increased, promoting the flourishing of China's sci-fi industry. Driven by the political investment in developing the industry, a series of publications has focused on monitoring and researching the industry. They include the China Science Fiction Development Report (2015–2020), Research on the Development of Beijing's Science Fiction Industry, Future Map of China's Science Fiction Industry, Research on the Regional Development of China's Science Fiction Industry and the Yearbook of China's Science Fiction Development. They have paved the way for more refined and systematic research on the sci-fi industry.

3. The major forms of the sci-fi industry

There are various forms in the sci-fi industry. Research teams have begun to measure the output value of the main forms of the industry in China. For example, the China Science Fiction Research Center and the Research Center for Science and Human Imagination at the Southern University of Science and Technology have published the China Science Fiction Industry Report each year since 2019. The report includes statistics on the annual revenue of China's sci-fi industry. Yao and Wang (2021) studied the development of Beijing's sci-fi industry between 2015 and 2020 and analysed the development of sci-fi sectors such as film and TV, animation, games and publications. In 2021, the inauguration ceremony of the Research Center for Science Popularization and Science Fiction Industry of Jiangsu Science Writers Association was held at Nanjing University of Technology, and a sci-fi industry report was released for the occasion. It summarized the development of sci-fi in the Yangtze River Delta region, including the publication of sci-fi works, the operation of theme parks and the development of film, animation and games (Cai, 2021). Wang and Yao (2022) discussed the development of the sci-fi industry in the Southwest China region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the South China region and the Northwest, Northeast, North and Central China regions, as well as Shanghai and Tianjin. Jin (2022) reviewed the development progress, patterns and trends of the sci-fi industry in Beijing. The Report on Chengdu's Science Fiction Industry 2023, jointly published by the China Science Fiction Research Center and the Chengdu Institute of High-Quality Development Research, presented a detailed picture of Chengdu's sci-fi industry in the six areas of sci-fi literature, games, film and TV, derivatives, cultural tourism and equipment manufacturing (People's Daily, 2023).

Together, these studies have painted a vivid portrait of China's sci-fi industry at the national level and in some local regions. They have shown that sci-fi reading material, film and TV, games, derivatives and cultural tourism are typical forms of the sci-fi industry, and also the core bases for the generation of sci-fi content and the dissemination of sci-fi culture.

3.1 Reading material

Sci-fi reading material includes printed, digital and audio books. Among printed books, The Three Body Problem has long occupied top spots in China's bestseller list. The novel has also been included in the collection of 70 Classic Novels in 70 Years of the People's Republic of China and was selected as one of the top 10 pieces of national IP of the year in 2021. The Liu Cixin Sci-fi Comic Series, created by 28 comic artists from 13 countries, attracted widespread attention and quickly dominated the ‘Best Science Fiction Graphic Novels’ list on Amazon.com after its release (FT Culture, 2022, 2023). Ebooks and online novels have included the popular We Live in Nanjing, a serial sci-fi novel posted by Tianrui Shuofu on the Chinese website Qidian.com in 2021. It received several significant awards, including the Chinese Science Fiction Nebula Award, and appeared on several book lists, including the ‘Online novel’ section of the China Online Literature Influence List (in 2022). The China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023 reveals that the total revenue of the sci-fi reading industry amounted to 3.04 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 3.46% of the whole sci-fi industry (China Science Writers Association, 2023). Although the proportion was relatively low in financial terms, we would argue that sci-fi reading is the core of the sci-fi industry and an important source for creating sci-fi films, derivatives and so on.

3.2 Films and TV

In recent years, several classic Chinese sci-fi film and TV works have been produced, including a TV series of The Three-Body Problem, which secured 25,000 points in viewer popularity just an hour after its release on Tencent Video, breaking the website's premiere-day record for TV series (Zhang, 2023). The box-office revenue for the films The Wandering Earth and The Wandering Earth 2 surpassed 8.7 billion yuan; The Wandering Earth ranked fifth in China's all-time box-office revenue figures, and the sequel ranked 10th. The Wandering Earth 3 has been scheduled for release on the first day of the Chinese New Year in 2027. According to the China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023, the total revenue of China's sci-fi film and TV industry accounted for 9.52% of the whole sci-fi industry in 2022 (China Science Writers Association, 2023).

3.3 Games

Currently, sci-fi games that lead in market sales are mostly original games blended with sci-fi elements, such as Honor of Kings, Infinite Lagrange, Honkai Impact 3 and Genshin. Mobile games based on The Three-Body Problem and The Wandering Earth are at the development stage and have not yet been launched. In recent years, there has been a growing trend for Chinese sci-fi games to sell in overseas markets. According to digital intelligence company Sensor Tower (2023), Genshin continued to lead in overseas revenue for Chinese mobile games in 2022. The China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023 showed that the total revenue of the sci-fi game industry amounted to 56.5 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for the biggest share (64.39%) of the whole sci-fi industry (China Science Writers Association, 2023).

3.4 Derivatives

Sci-fi derivatives include toys, clothing, souvenirs and other items modeled on sci-fi IP. Chengdu Yi Xing Culture and Media Co. Ltd is a typical enterprise with sci-fi derivatives as its main business. One of its brands, SCIFI Funspace, launched a crowdfunding project in 2023 to develop spin-off products based on The Wandering Earth 2. The project raised more than 100 million yuan in just eight days, breaking the record for derivatives crowdfunding projects in China (Sina Finance, 2023). Brands working with The Three-Body Problem include the Bank of China, Huawei, Xiaomi, Jingdong, Jidu, Yili, Pizza Hut and many more. They have launched a wide variety of consumer products covering computer, communication and consumer electronic products (3C), home appliances, fashion, fast-moving consumer goods, everyday chemical products, cultural and creative products and toys, with a cumulative market value of more than 2 billion yuan (National Business Daily, 2023). According to the China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023, the total revenue of the sci-fi spin-offs industry accounted for 5.5% of the whole sci-fi industry in 2022 (China Science Writers Association, 2023).

3.5 Cultural tourism

Sci-fi cultural tourism refers mainly to sci-fi attractions in theme parks, including Changzhou China Dinosaur Land, which focuses on spreading knowledge about dinosaurs and sci-fi interactive entertainment, and the Star Wars Launch Bay at Shanghai Disney Resort. Universal Beijing Resort received more than 13 million visitors in its first year of operation, and the Transformers Metrobase, the Jurassic World and other sci-fi themed sites have become popular attractions. Another strand of sci-fi tourism involves scenic areas such as the Oriental Science Fiction Valley in Guizhou, Cold Lake Mars Camp in Qinghai and the Kedu ‘astronomy town’ in Guizhou. Landmark projects of sci-fi cultural tourism that have been developed in recent years also include Shougang Park in Beijing, especially its SoReal sci-fi park, where 5G and XR technologies are used to reinvigorate a centuries-old cultural site. The Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, with a total investment of 900 million yuan, was the main venue for the 2023 Worldcon. It will be turned into a park that integrates popular science education and sci-fi experiences. According to the China Science Fiction Industry Report 2023, the total revenue of the sci-fi cultural tourism industry accounted for 17.13% of the whole sci-fi industry in 2022 (China Science Writers Association, 2023).

4. Characteristics of the sci-fi industry

The sci-fi industry is an industry covering multiple fields with broad development prospects. It plays a significant role in building China's cultural soft power, cultivating new economic growth areas and boosting urban innovation. Its development trajectory to date suggests that the importance of the industry is widely recognized by the government, businesses and consumers, and the demand for developing the industry is high. The importance of the industry is mainly reflected in its complex features, which incorporate various sociocultural and economic elements.

4.1 Factors of production: Integrating culture with science and technology

The integration of culture with S&T represents the logic of the development of the sci-fi industry, and is reflected in the alignment of intensive cultural creativity with intensive S&T.

First, the development of the sci-fi industry is highly dependent on creativity and content, as the source is often sci-fi text, the core of which is creativity. The cognitive estrangement of sci-fi is a unique esthetic feature and could be argued to stem from the combination of S&T imagination and cultural imagination, resulting in a fusion of scientific and cultural features. ‘Scientific features’ refers to sci-fi's pursuit of the ‘scientific spirit’ and its focus on logical thinking, while ‘cultural features’ refers to the fact that the genre often inspires discussions on humanistic issues such as the alienating effect of S&T and involves imagining social and cultural changes. Sci-fi creation aims to present the scientific spirit in literary works. The industrialization of sci-fi literature has promoted the dissemination of sci-fi culture in sci-fi consumption and can generate different combinations of cultural genes and scientific elements, thus unlocking the full potential of the industry.

Second, the development of the sci-fi industry is highly dependent on technology. The S&T imagined in sci-fi works can inspire and generate technological innovations that are needed in the production, sale and dissemination of sci-fi products. Through digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and sound and light technology, the sci-fi industry is becoming smarter and more immersive, producing new modes of consumption that have expanded its reach. All this has turned the sci-fi industry into a technology-intensive industry, especially in the fields of sci-fi film and TV, games and cultural tourism. The technologies used in these domains are both a test and a mirror of a country's technological prowess. For example, at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, the XR Immersive Science Fiction Space built by China Telecom showed sci-fi films on 2000 flexible connected screens, supported by big-data algorithms to ensure the right aspect ratio. Ultra-high-definition display technology was also used to produce the naked-eye 3D effect. A virtual host called Yuan Yi welcomed visitors to the pavilion. Harnessing motion capture, facial capture and other technologies, and equipped with voice recognition, Yuan Yi provided visitors with a truly interactive experience (Xu, 2023).

4.2 Growth drivers: Combining production capacity and consumer appeal

Production capacity and consumer appeal constitute the innovation drivers of the sci-fi industry. The industry is futuristic, technology-intensive and culture-intensive. It aggregates industrial factors, empowers traditional industries, and can create new drivers for economic growth. From this perspective, the sci-fi industry can provide a supportive force and a new pathway for cities in the context of modernization and globalization to embrace cultural and technological innovation.

Cities such as Beijing, Chengdu and Wuhan have introduced a series of policies and initiatives to attract sci-fi enterprises and promote a clustering effect for the sci-fi industry. In 2021, the Shijingshan District of Beijing introduced a 16-point policy package for the sci-fi industry, including setting up a special fund to support industry development and to cultivate a sci-fi industrial cluster (Zheng, 2021). In 2022, Wuhan set up the Optics Valley Metaverse Research Institute and released the Optics Valley Three-Year Action Plan for the Development of the Sci-fi Industry (2022–2025), which proposed to build a complete sci-fi industrial chain, including content generation and operation, digital design, digital human, mixed reality and immersive experiences (Sun, 2023). In 2023, Chengdu issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Platform Construction for the Transformation of the Sci-fi Industry and Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Industry, setting the goal of attracting several sci-fi industry clusters in the key sectors of sci-fi literature, film and TV, games consumption and equipment by 2027 (National Business Daily, 2024). According to Wang and Yao (2022), as of 2021, China already had close to 400 sci-fi-related enterprises, indicating that the production capacity of China's sci-fi industry is improving.

Whether they are novels, films or games, all sci-fi products can be classified as items of cultural and entertainment consumption. Thus, the sci-fi industry has strong entertainment and leisure properties. Immersive sci-fi experiences are becoming popular, demonstrating a growing diversification of sci-fi consumption. The number of sci-fi activities is also increasing. According to the China Science Fiction Development Report (2015–2020), China is seeing exponential growth in sci-fi activities: 1500 sci-fi-related activities were held between 2015 and 2020. The number of people participating in sci-fi activities is also increasing. The China Science Fiction Convention is an example: the number of visitors to the first convention in 2016 was less than 10,000, compared to 40,000 in 2019. This shows that the public is now more active in its consumption of sci-fi culture (Wang and Wang, 2021).

4.3 The industrial chain: Connecting vertical and horizontal chains

The sci-fi industry is a non-linear and multidimensional industry with interlinked vertical and horizontal industrial chains (Ao et al., 2014). ‘Vertical’ means that the industry has a relatively complete industrial chain, including creation, production, dissemination and marketing. In a narrower sense, it is sci-fi products and sci-fi works that are circulated across the sci-fi industrial chain. A sci-fi work or IP can be adapted into various forms and made into new sci-fi works or products. For example, sci-fi novels can be adapted into films, TV series and games, and films can also be adapted into games. The Three-Body Problem novel, for example, has already been adapted into a TV series, an animated film and immersive-experience programs. In the broader sense, it is abstract sci-fi ideas and concepts that are circulated across the industrial chain (San, 2015). Some sci-fi products, especially games, might not be inspired by any specific work but by multiple ideas. For example, the sci-fi game Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a world view of dystopia and climate catastrophe and has the cyberpunk culture of ‘high-tech, low-life’ at the core of its design.

The sci-fi industrial chain is also horizontal, as it integrates with other types of industries to empower the economy. In the process of cross-media production and dissemination, sci-fi presents itself in forms such as fluid concepts, elements and themes, and it can be integrated with various types of products, platforms and industries. In that way, it gains a unique ability of empowerment through ‘sci-fi +’. The catalytic effect of ‘sci-fi +’ is having a positive impact in the experience economy, cross-sector marketing, city branding and other domains. In ‘sci-fi + cross-sector marketing’, a brand borrows a piece of sci-fi IP, turns it into an abstract concept and embeds it in the brand's overall image, which allows the brand to present itself as a champion of S&T innovation. For example, several automobile, mobile phone and headphone brands have chosen to cooperate with sci-fi IP such as The Three-Body Problem and The Wandering Earth. This practice has added a human touch to high-tech consumer products and enabled the joint promotion of sci-fi culture and technology brands.

5. Conclusion

The sci-fi industry is an important force in the integration of culture and S&T. It provides a testing ground and experimental space for the transformation and application of S&T outcomes and a ‘reaction chamber’ for cutting-edge S&T, innovative art and imaginative culture. The concept of the sci-fi industry is still evolving. As its focus shifts from the mechanism of content generation to the supportive function of technologies, the industry is constantly innovating new forms and features, and its connotation is also constantly changing.

China's sci-fi industry was born and developed against specific cultural, economic and political backgrounds, and that complex context has promoted the flourishing of Chinese sci-fi and given it its dynamism. In this study, we have presented a particularly Chinese path for developing sci-fi: taking the sci-fi industry as an important way to promote science communication and inspire S&T innovation.

This paper is a preliminary attempt to explore the concept and forms of the sci-fi industry. We have only opened a window to observe the development path of China's sci-fi industry. There is scope for more research in areas such as how sci-fi can stimulate S&T innovation and the relevance of sci-fi to the building of innovative cities in China.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author biographies

Yilin Xu is a research assistant at the China Research Institute for Science Popularization. Her research interests include the sci-fi industry, science communication and cultural communication.

Wenjie Zhao is a PhD candidate at the School of Medical Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a Qihang Fellow at the China Science Fiction Research Center. His research interests include the popular science industry, the sci-fi industry and the cultivation of scientific talent.

Ling Chen is a research fellow and the director of the Department of Popular Science Creation and Communication Research, China Research Institute for Science Popularization. Her research interests include the science education of teenagers and the theories and practice of science popularization.

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