China Mountain Zhang
China Mountain Zhang is a 1992 science fiction novel by American writer Maureen F. McHugh. The novel is made up of several stories loosely intertwined.
Title
The novel's title derives from the name of the protagonist, a young gay man of mixed Chinese and Hispanic ancestry who goes by the name Rafael Zhang in non-Chinese contexts and Zhang Zhongshan in Chinese contexts. His Chinese given name, "Zhongshan", is written with the characters that have the primary meanings "center" and "mountain"; the Mandarin name for China also begins with the character meaning "center" or "middle". Thus, "China Mountain" is an alternate reading of his Chinese given name. As the novel explains, "Zhongshan" was one of the given names used by the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, for whom the character is named.
Plot summary
The main story involves a man's maturation in a future dominated by China, where the United States has undergone a Second Great Depression, a Communist revolution and then a "Cleansing Winds Campaign" that resembled the Chinese Cultural Revolution. His personal evolution is paralleled in four interwoven side stories following characters progressing from outsiderdom to finding places in society.
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
The backdrop is a 22nd-century in which the Chinese Communist regime dominates the world. The novel is slightly unusual for science fiction in that none of the characters cause any significant change in the world around them; nor does it use any standard science fiction tropes.[1]
The New York Times said of the book when it first appeared: "A first novel this good gives every reader a chance to share in the pleasure of discovery; to my mind, Ms. McHugh's achievement recalls the best work of Samuel R. Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson without being in the least derivative."[2]
Connections to other works
McHugh's short story "Protection" is set in the same future history as China Mountain Zhang, detailing the experiences of a petty criminal in a "Reform Through Labor" camp in Kansas under the future Communist system.
Awards and nominations
The novel was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and Nebula Award for Best Novel and won a Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
References
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- Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward (1981)
- Starship & Haiku by S. P. Somtow (1982)
- Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (1983)
- Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1984)
- The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson (1985)
- Contact by Carl Sagan (1986)
- The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt (1987)
- War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1988)
- Desolation Road by Ian McDonald (1989)
- Orbital Decay by Allen Steele (1990)
- In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn (1991)
- The Cipher by Kathe Koja (1992)
- China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1993)
- Cold Allies by Patricia Anthony (1994)
- Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem (1995)
- The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata (1996)
- Reclamation by Sarah Zettel / Whiteout by Sage Walker (1997)
- The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod (1998)
- Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1999)
- The Silk Code by Paul Levinson (2000)
- Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis (2001)
- Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (2002)
- A Scattering of Jades by Alexander C. Irvine (2003)
- Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (2004)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2005)
- Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear (2006)
- His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (2007)
- Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2008)
- Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko (2009)
- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (2011)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2012)
- Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (2013)
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2014)
- The Memory Garden by M. Rickert (2015)
- The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (2016)
- Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2017)
- The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss (2018)
- Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (2019)
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2020)
- Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (2021)
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (2022)
- The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2023)
- The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (2024)
- Best Novel (1971–1981)
- Best SF Novel (1980–present)
- Best Fantasy Novel (1978–present)
- Best First Novel (1981–present)
- Best Horror Novel (1989–1997, 1999, 2017–present)
- Best Young Adult Book (2003–present)
- Best Novella (1973–present)
- Best Novelette (1975–present)
- Best Short Story (1971–present)