Aliens and authors: Asia’s sci-fi fans in for a treat in Hong Kong

The genre has taken off in China and award-winning writer Li Jun will join American Allen Steele, and experts in artificial intelligence and planetary science, for the second Melon: Sci-Fi and Beyond conference this week

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The upcoming Three-Body Problem is a big budget movie adaptation of a science fiction novel by Chinese writer Liu Cixin.

Published: 12:47pm, 14 Mar 2018Updated: 8:09pm, 15 Mar 2018

Asia’s leading science fiction conference returns this weekend with a stellar line-up of big-name authors and emerging writers in the genre, as well as scientists, filmmakers and game developers.

The inaugural “Melon: Sci-Fi and Beyond” last year drew 200 fans and this year organisers expect double that number at the JW Marriott Hotel on Saturday.

The event’s founder, entrepreneur Fritz Demopoulos, says Hong Kong has plenty of banking and real estate conferences, but is short on arts and culture gatherings.

“In the US and UK, science fiction is well established as a literary and film genre and in China it’s just taking off. I thought is would be good to highlight writers and artists from China and match that with writers from North America and Europe,” says Demopoulos, who lived in China for 15 years before moving to Hong Kong five years ago.

Hong Kong’s first sci-fi conference is ready for lift-off

China’s rapid growth from an emerging market to a technologically advanced society helps explain why science fiction is now popular on the mainland.

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