The literary era since 1979

After the meeting, Yang Xiao contacted Shi Tiesheng immediately and asked him to convey Fang Yan's message and arrange a meeting time.

Two days later, he and Yao Haijun boarded a train from Chengdu to Yanjing. On June 6, when the TV series "Desire" came to its finale, the two came to Yonghegong Street and met Fang Yan and his group in the reception room of the "Mystery World" editorial department.

"Come here and treat it like your own home. Would you like some water or some drinks?"

Dialects are full of smiles.

"Cold water is fine."

Yang Xiao noticed that Yu Hua walked straight towards the refrigerator in the corner of the wall, and felt surprised and envious.

Because the editorial department of "Mystery World" is affiliated with the "Science Fiction World" publishing house and pays a regular affiliation fee every year, it is nominally the Beijing branch of "Science Fiction World". However, Ren never imagined that the nominal subsidiary would be so rich.

It’s even richer than the head office of Science Fiction World Publishing House!

Yao Haijun had similar thoughts, but he quickly suppressed them and took out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase.

"These are the plans we have finalized after much discussion and design. Please review them, Mr. Fang."

"so much?"

Fang Yan raised his eyebrows, "It looks like there is more than one plan for hosting this World Science Fiction Convention."

Yang Xiao took the bottle of boiled water with ice cubes and said, "Because all the proposals are good, the comrades in the agency have not been able to reach a unified opinion, so they have been unable to decide which one should be used as the final proposal for the World Science Fiction Convention."

"So you want to ask our opinion?"

When Fang Yan saw Yao Haijun nodded, he distributed the plan in his hand to everyone and passed it around.

Yang Xiao drank a sip of ice water, felt the cool air from the air conditioner, and gradually calmed down.

While Fangyan was reading the book carefully, he asked for the opinions of the Sichuan Writers Association and its top leader, Mr. Ma Shi Tu.

Yang Xiao said excitedly that ever since Sichuan learned that Science Fiction World Publishing House had applied for the right to host the 1988 World Science Fiction Convention, everyone from the government to the Writers Association had been very willing to provide help and fully cooperate with the publishing house to host such a high-level international event.

Fangyan nodded. These days, China is actively integrating with the world, so it attaches great importance to world events and international conferences.

Otherwise, if the bid for the Olympic Games was successful, the whole country would not be excited, and they would not have put all their efforts into organizing the "unparalleled" Yanjing Olympic Games.

"Teacher Fang, what do you think?"

Yao Haijun was so nervous that his heart almost jumped into his throat.

Fangyan read every proposal from beginning to end, and even read some details over and over again.

For example, the slogan, mascot and science fiction exhibits of this World Science Fiction Convention.

"This third proposal is too focused on the Hugo Awards ceremony, and that's not okay."

He shook the document in his hand. "The World Science Fiction Convention is not just about the Hugo Awards. More importantly, it provides a platform for science fiction fans around the world to interact and communicate. On the day of the convention, all the attendees are science fiction masters and fans from all over the world."

"Shhhhh."

Yang Xiao took a pen and carefully wrote down his opinions in a notebook.

"As for the difference between the first and second editions, in my opinion, the biggest difference is in the science fiction exhibits at the convention."

Fang Yan said: "What we are exhibiting is not only the artworks, crafts, publications and photos that reflect world science fiction literature and international science fiction activities, but also a series of exhibits that represent the history of the development of Chinese science fiction to science fiction fans around the world."

"Teacher Fang, you are absolutely right!" Yao Haijun's face was full of excitement.

"However, these first and second sets of proposals do not fully reflect the development of science fiction in our country."

Fangyan said with some regret: "Putting aside the science fiction works, let's just talk about the exhibits. It's the same old four great inventions of ancient times, gunpowder, compass, movable type printing, papermaking, in addition to the armillary sphere, seismometer, sundial and other instruments from ancient times..."

Yao Haijun and others thought it made a lot of sense and were speechless for a moment.

"Teacher Fang, I have thought about finding something that can represent China's modern science and technology, but it is really too..."

Yang Xiao sighed softly.

"Not necessarily."

Fang Yan shook his head and laughed, "Let's not talk about much else, let's just talk about cloning technology. We are world-class in this area. As early as the 60s, under the leadership of Mr. Tong Dizhou, the first batch of cloned fish prototypes were born. A few years ago, the Chinese Academy of Sciences also cloned a single-parent crucian carp."

Everyone looked at each other with wide eyes.

Fangyan curled his lips, but there was actually something else he hadn't said: this cloned fish was many years earlier than Dolly the sheep, who was cloned in the UK using adult somatic cells!
"Teacher Fang, is there anything else?"

Yao Haijun's eyes were burning.

"Take 'artemisinin' for example. Tu Youyou led a team to successfully extract artemisinin, saving the lives of countless malaria patients. Globally, this can be regarded as a Nobel-level achievement. Isn't it worthy of being displayed at the World Science Fiction Convention?"

"........."

"Even if you don't know the above, you should be familiar with 'hybrid rice', right?"

"Isn't this worth promoting at the World Science Fiction Convention in front of science fiction fans all over the world?"

Dialect looks left and right.

Everyone gasped and looked at him with eyes full of admiration, adoration and respect. He was worthy of being called Teacher Fang!

"Teacher Fang, we were negligent. Our vision is too narrow and we didn't even consider this."

Yang Xiao was so ashamed that he lowered his head.

"Science fiction editors should not only focus on science fiction, but also keep an eye on science and technology at home and abroad."

Fangyan said seriously.

"That's what you taught me."

Yao Haijun touched his nose, looking embarrassed.

Fangyan changed the subject and began to praise the merits of the proposals. Although the contents of most of the proposals were completely different, they all had the same goal in terms of mascot image design. They all drew a sci-fi panda that was full of imagination and futuristic feeling.

After all, Chengdu, the city hosting the World Science Fiction Convention, is known for having "a giant panda for every person".

Then, after a heated discussion, Yang Xiao, Yao Haijun and others finally made a decision to improve the first set of plans based on the opinions and suggestions provided by Fangyan, especially for the science and technology exhibition at the World Science Fiction Convention.

"Teacher Fang, there is one more thing."

Yang Xiao said seriously: "This exhibition not only shows the exhibits representing the history of the development of Chinese science fiction to the outside world, but also shows the history of the development of science fiction literature and the highest level of domestic science fiction literature. I wonder if you have written any new science fiction novels recently?" (End of this chapter)