How China became a leading global force in science fiction cinema, as shown by The Wandering Earth and its new prequel

The rise of Chinese science fiction cinema is a result of the film industry’s growth, China’s space successes and writers like Liu Cixin creating great stories

Adapted from a short story by the Hugo Award-winning sci-fi writer, The Wandering Earth and its prequel, now in cinemas, have set new benchmarks for the genre

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Wu Jing in a still from The Wandering Earth II. The Chinese sci-fi cinema boom shows no sign of stopping.

Published: 5:15pm, 9 Feb 2023

This week sees the Hong Kong cinematic release of The Wandering Earth II, Frant Gwo’s blockbuster prequel to the 2019 Chinese box office smash hit.

Already a big success in mainland China, where it has taken more than 3 billion yuan (US$442 million) since opening in cinemas on January 21, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the film stars Wu Jing and Andy Lau Tak-wah, and depicts a fictional Chinese-led project to rescue Earth from the destructive path of an expanding sun.

Adapted from a short story by Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer Liu Cixin, The Wandering Earth and its prequel have set a new benchmark for Chinese sci-fi cinema – not just in terms of scale and spectacle, but also in the subjects and themes they explore.

The story is a planet-sized allegory for climate change that stresses the urgency of world powers pooling their resources and collaborating to save the planet from destruction.

In Liu’s narrative, the sun is dying and, as it does, it threatens to engulf the Earth. World leaders are at odds over how best to evade this apocalyptic event until they rally behind China’s “Wandering Earth” project, for which thousands of engines have been built that will propel the planet light years through space into an orbit out of the sun’s path.

It is a journey that will take 2,500 years to complete, and is therefore a sacrificial mission from which none of Earth’s living population will benefit.