Hao Jingfang

Hao Jingfang has emerged as one of contemporary science fiction’s most imaginative voices, bringing fresh perspectives to the genre through her distinctive blend of hard science concepts and deeply human storytelling. A trained economist, she infuses her fiction with the kind of rigorous intellectual architecture that makes her speculative worlds feel genuinely lived-in rather than merely fantastical. Her work often explores the intersection of social systems, inequality, and individual agency—themes that resonate across cultural boundaries and have earned her recognition far beyond her native China.

Her 2016 Hugo Award win for Best Novelette with “Folding Beijing” marked a watershed moment for Chinese science fiction’s international visibility. The story showcases Hao’s signature approach: a seemingly fantastical premise—a future where a city literally folds to accommodate its segregated populations—becomes a vehicle for exploring class divisions and human connection. This recognition on the world’s most prestigious science fiction stage wasn’t a fluke but rather an acknowledgment of what readers and critics already knew: that Hao’s work transcends translation and regional context to speak to universal questions about how we organize our societies and what we owe one another.

Folding Beijing
2016 Hugo Novelette