Folding Beijing

北京折叠

郝景芳

Their (First Space) allotted time lasted from six o’clock in the morning to six o’clock the next morning. Then the space went to sleep, and the earth flipped. (“Folding Beijing”, P.7)

Twenty-five million people lived in Second Space, and their allotted time lasted from six o’clock that second day to ten o’clock at night. Fifty million people lived in Third Space, allotted the time from ten o’clock at night to six o’clock in the morning, at which point First Space returned. (“Folding Beijing”, P.7)

Time had been carefully divided and parceled out to separate the population: Five million enjoyed the use of twenty-four hours, and seventy-five million enjoyed the next twenty-four hours. (“Folding Beijing”, P.7)

In terms of time, at the beginning of Section 2, the author introduces the allotted time use for each space. For example, the allotted time for First Space with 5 million population is 24 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m.; the other two spaces with 75 million people share the next 24 hours. What difference does the time allowance make to the whole society of three classes? Why does the concept “time” matter?

In terms of space, although the three classes share the same each surface, they live in three physically divided layers. What does the author imply with the folding layers? What political message does it convey? If the setting of the story was changed to other big cities like Paris or New York, would it still convey the same message?

The author sets the story in Beijing, the capital city of China, which has the most rigid Hukou (permanent residence, 户口) system in the world. For Chinese who were born out of Beijing, it is hard to obtain the city’s Hukou, as impossible as those in Third Space wants to enter First Space , unless he or she proves “a useful professional” with a higher education degree or professional skill. If the setting of the story was changed to another big city in the world, such as New York or Paris, does it still convey the same political message? Would it still be praised and valued by the world?

Personally, I prefer to identify the novel as a metaphoric realistic novel with imagination, rather than a sci-fi, because I think a sci-fi should be based on hard science or technology. What do you think?