Adolescent Narratives and the Poetic Evolution of Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

Since the 1980s,Chinese science fiction has traversed a narrative trajectory from the nascent childhood toward a polyphonic adolescence.Throughout subsequent eras,these adolescent-centered narratives reveal both sharply delineated generational inflections and an evocative poetic resonance.In summary,the evolution of adolescent narratives in Chinese science fiction can be delineated in three phases.First,during the two decades following the 1980s,science fiction actively aligned with contemporary social demands and literary mainstreams while focusing on the elaboration of the "New Scientific Youth" —a figure marked by pronounced subjectivity.As popularization and campus-oriented genres increasingly defined the literary marketplace,grandiose narratives gradually receded.In the 1990s,many writers emphasized the pursuit of pure emotion and romantic innocence when portraying the "New Scientific Youth".Second,from the early 21st century to the present,coming-of-age narratives in science fiction shifted from depicting protagonists learning to resist adversity and endure existential rupture to illustrating the cultivation of inner listening and the appreciation of quotidian experience.This shift reflects authors' deepening conception of the relationship between technology and humanity and constitutes a shift from antagonistic conflict toward holistic coexistence.Third,the "New Scientific Youth",envisaged as an individual whose identity is anchored in communal belonging,has emerged as an ethical paradigm through which contemporary writers reconceptualize the nexus between the individual,the nation,and the global order.Adolescent narratives in Chinese science fiction have not only registered with striking acuity the transformations of a technologically mediated society but have also persistently innovated in the domains of subject formation,affective structuring,and ethical orientation.By virtue of their singular poetic sensibility and critical consciousness,these narratives provide an indispensable lens for interrogating contemporary Chinese literature and the evolving contours of the national zeitgeist.At the same time,they present persistent challenges—such as concept-driven storytelling and a comparatively attenuated poetic dimension—that warrant careful scholarly reflection.