Liu Cixin Photo: IC

The opening ceremony for the first Liu Cixin Hometown Sci-fi Cultural Event Week was held on Tuesday in Yangquan, North China's Shanxi Province. Taking "Meet in Yangquan, Science fiction lights up the future" as its theme, the event aims to build a platform for exchanges and learning for science fiction enthusiasts to further meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people. 

Gathering science fiction literature and art together, the event includes an award ceremony for a literature contest and an art contest, as well as a series of activities such as an exhibition of outstanding works from the art contest, film screenings and an exhibition of science fiction books. 

Yangquan is the hometown of the Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin, Hugo Award winner and author of The Three-Body Problem and The Wandering Earth books. The city plans to create a "science fiction city" to promote the development of Chinese science fiction. 

Li Bin, the Party secretary of the Shanxi Federation of Literary and Artistic Circles, pointed out that Yangquan is a city with unique cultural charm and the home of Liu Cixin, who has provided the world with a unique Chinese sci-fi style based on his deep scientific knowledge. 

"Liu's works have become movies, TV dramas, animated works, games, interactive escape rooms, music and other works, which not only drive the sci-fi fever of Chinese youths, but also drove the sci-fi art fever of Chinese youths," Li said. 

The award ceremony for the first National Youth Science Fiction Literature Competition was held during the opening ceremony. A total of 465 works have entered in this competition. 

Lei Jiankun, Party secretary of CPC Yangquan Committee, said he believes that the event enables more young people to see more possibilities in science fiction culture and provides a fertile spiritual ground for creators. 

Wang Xue, an official from the Yangquan Publicity Department, told the Global Times that the event is scheduled to run until the August 20.