Hao Jingfang books

Hao Jingfang is a Chinese science fiction author and Hugo Award winner known for her novelette Folding Beijing and novels Vagabonds and Jumpnauts.

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume One 2016 Buy
The Best of Uncanny 2019 Buy
Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction 2021 Buy

Short Stories/Novellas

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Folding Beijing 2015 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Vagabonds 2016 Buy
Jumpnauts 2024 Buy

Hao Jingfang was born in 1984 in Tianjin, China. She studied physics as an undergraduate at Tsinghua University and later earned her PhD in economics and management from the same institution. Her academic training shows up directly in her fiction, which blends hard science concepts with sharp observations about economics and class structure. She works at the China Development Research Foundation and in 2017 founded Tongxing Academy, an education project teaching science and arts to children in remote rural areas.

Hao gained international attention in 2016 when her novelette “Folding Beijing,” translated by Ken Liu, won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The story imagines a future Beijing that physically folds to separate three economic classes into different time-shared spaces. It made her the first Chinese woman to receive a Hugo Award. Her first novel published in English, Vagabonds (2020, also translated by Ken Liu), follows a group of Martian teenagers returning home after five years on Earth, caught between two worlds with very different political systems.

Her most recent English-language novel, Jumpnauts (2024), is a first-contact story set against a near-future conflict between Pacific and Atlantic superpowers. The novel draws on Confucian philosophy, particularly the concept of “ren,” or co-humanity. Outside of fiction, Hao has published several novels, short story collections, and essays in Chinese that have not yet been translated into English.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Hao Jingfang win the Hugo Award for?

Hao Jingfang won the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for Folding Beijing, translated into English by Ken Liu. She was the first Chinese woman to win a Hugo Award.

Are Hao Jingfang's books available in English?

Her two novels in English are Vagabonds (2020) and Jumpnauts (2024), both translated by Ken Liu. Her novelette Folding Beijing and several short stories have also appeared in English in magazines and anthologies.

What are the main themes in Hao Jingfang's writing?

Her fiction explores social inequality, class division, and the relationship between technology and society. Folding Beijing examines urban stratification through a literal folding city, while Vagabonds contrasts the political systems of Earth and Mars.

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