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12/22/2004 Entry: "Chinese SF Blog"

Via Language Hat, a weblog hosted on LiveJournal that explicates Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy. Instead of an FAQ, there's FIQ -- Frequently Imagined Questions.

1. Q: What is this site?
   A: This is a center or clearinghouse of sorts for news in English about Chinese language science fiction.
2. Q: Why? Is there such a pressing need?
   A: Chinese science fiction seldom appears in English, so awareness of it among people who do not speak Chinese is minimal. In light of this situation, this site attempts to illuminate the state of Chinese science fiction by reporting on the latest news, translating commentary and criticism, and issuing reviews and recommendations.
   
   Of course there are personal reasons in addition to this; the author recently accepted a translation job and discovered to his surprise and disappointment that his years in China had dulled his English language skills; he found he had difficulting in phrasing a natural, fluent English sentence from a Chinese translation. So as an exercise in English writing and practice in Chinese translation, this site allows him at the same time to accomplish something that perhaps is independently worthwhile.

The index of articles gives a general idea of what the site contains.