On NewChina in Imagination in Utopian Science Fictions in Late Qing Dynasty A Case Study of New Tales of a Stone

Among all scientific fictions in late Qing Dynasty which imagined new China, New Tales of a Stone by WU Jian-ren was the most outstandingfor its achievements. The first half of the novel takes Beijing and Shanghai as examples and described the ignorant and backward society of the late Qing society. The second half, however, outlines clearly the Chinese dream through the description of civilization. The civilized state described by WU is an empire with highly developed science and technology, and a military power. His social ideal is the world’s peace and progress, and friendly and equal nationalities. In order to bring the science oriented Chinese dream into reality, the novel points out, we have to take constitutional monarchy, cultivate the national spirit of self independence and train a large amount of scientist with great creativity and practical spirit.