Class and Gender: The Deformation of Urban Space in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

China’s rapid modernization and urbanization since the 1980s have given rise to a range of social problems, leading to marked divisions between rural and urban areas, and within the urban space itself. This transformation has created complex social hierarchies based on various social factors including education, profession, wealth, and lifestyle, and other social resources. Drawing on the contemporary Chinese sci-fi works of Chen Qiufan and Hao Jingfang, particularly Waste Tide and “Folding Beijing,” this chapter explores how these speculative narratives reveal the challenging experiences of various social groups in a changing urban landscape. By blending imaginative storytelling with realistic portrayals, these sci-fi works offer insights into the problems of class disparity and gender inequality in contemporary China. This chapter argues that post-2000 Chinese science fiction, as represented by these two works, artistically exposes the classed and gendered distinctions in today’s deformed Chinese urban space, highlighting the intersectional social issues that China needs to address in the twenty-first century.