Modification of the cyberpunk genre model in the chinese socio-cultural context based on material of Chen Qiufan's novel "Waste tide"

Луцюк, Микола Володимирович and Москальов, Дмитро Петрович and Овсяннікова, Софія Сергіївна (2025) Modification of the cyberpunk genre model in the chinese socio-cultural context based on material of Chen Qiufan's novel "Waste tide" Закарпатські філологічні студії, 41 (2). pp. 283-289. ISSN 2663-4899

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Abstract

Chen Qiufan’s novel “Waste Tide” is an example of the modification of the cyberpunk genre in the context of Chinese sociocultural reality. The author adapts the genre features of Western cyberpunk to the local context, including themes related to the hukou system, social inequality, environmental crisis, and identity transformation. Cyberpunk’s genre frame- work serves not only as an aesthetic shell, but also as a tool of critical reflection on a number of contemporary problems. The theme of cyborgization serves as a metaphor for social transformations and the crisis of self-identity. The problem of interference with the human body resonates with the problem of body modification. Moreover, through the image of the main character, who undergoes cyborgization which leads to the emergence of a new hybrid form of subjectivity – a symbi- osis of man and machine, the author challenges the traditional idea of personality, corporeality and the boundaries of one’s own “self”. Although the image of an android is typical to cyberpunk, in this case the emphasis shifts from an artificial being that imitates a person, to a person who gradually loses himself, merging with a digital entity. The transformation of the heroine is presented not as a fantastic reincarnation or obtaining superpowers, but as a painful and contradictory process. The problem of environmental pollution serves not only as a dystopian background characteristic to Western cyber- punk as a manifestation “High tech. Low life” principle, but also as an allusion to the real environmental problems of China caused by industrialization, globalization and uncontrolled consumerism. Ecological degradation is an ideological and criti- cal tool which reveals the moral degradation of a society that consciously sacrifices the environment for profit. The article aims to reveal that the novel is expanding Chinese cyberpunk boundaries functioning as a complex text at the intersection of science fiction, social criticism and philosophy of the technological age.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	dystopia; cyborgization; Chinese literature; identity crisis; ecological catastrophe; hukou
Subjects:	Статті у періодичних виданнях > Фахові (входять до переліку фахових, затверджений МОН)
Divisions:	Факультет східних мов > Кафедра східної культури і літератури
Depositing User:	Mykola Lutsiuk
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2025 15:03
Last Modified:	03 Oct 2025 15:03
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/53333

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