2066: Red Star Over America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Author | Han Song |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Heilongjiang People's Publishing House |
Publication date | February 1, 2000 |
| ISBN | 978-7-207-04637-6 |
2066: Red Star Over America is a 2000 science fiction novel by Chinese writer Han Song.[1][2]: 202 In the story, the United States of America has experienced a series of economic disasters and political crises, while China has become an idyllic superpower. The protagonist is a Chinese Go prodigy who goes to a competition in the US and is caught in the midst of the Second American Civil War,[2]: 202 and a terrorist attack at the World Trade Center (the buildings were destroyed the year after it was published).[1] After a series of adventures, he returns to China.[2]: 202
In the novel, China has achieved its superpower by accepting the influence of Amando, "an intelligence that plans the citizens' lives and oversees their happiness".[2]: 202 Amando fails when Martians come to Earth, turning China into the Land of Promise (fundi, also a way of referring to a cemetery).[2]: 202 The story is told as a flashback from the year 2126, a time when earthling civilization no longer exists.[2]: 203
The book deals with themes of nationalism versus globalism. Academic David Der-wei Wang writes that the novel deals also with "the geopolitics of utopia in terms of socialist (China), capitalist (America), and extraterrestrial space."[2]: 202
Its title is in part a reference to Edgar Snow's classic reportage of China, Red Star Over China.[2]: 202