I’ve been watching for reports from the Chengdu Worldcon, with my main concern being what it was like to attend and participate. File 770 is my main source, and somebody called Ersatz Culture has been especially helpful. I don’t want to enable JavaScript for any Chinese site, which cuts me off from some primary sources. Here are some things I’ve seen so far. Some of them are translations from Chinese.
From File 770, October 24: A Google translation of a report by Zhang Ran, includes the following:
This should be a carnival for Chinese science fiction fans, but I couldn’t find any carnival look on the faces of many people attending the conference.
The volunteers were stiff and frightened, as if they were fulfilling some grand historical mission. The security check is dense and solemn, as if guarding some mysterious core…. The science fiction market, which should be reserved for ordinary fantasy fans, will naturally be run by companies that have little to do with science fiction.
A report by Jiano Bo says:
The security of this science fiction conference was extremely strict. Xia Jia and several other authors were stopped outside. Even organizers like Sun Yueraz were stopped from entering again after leaving.
Excerpts from a report by “SF Light Year,” rendered in English by Google Translate:
The actual situation of the conference is that these so-called VIP guests (who are also members of WSFS) are different from the guests separately invited by the organizing committee. They did not automatically receive the right to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies and the Hugo Award ceremony… Those who purchased event tickets (non-members) also needed to participate in the lottery for access to one of the three ceremonies. Some fellow WSFS members were not even able to get admission to any of the ceremonies.
Wu Miao mentioned that his book signing was actually a mess: although the book sold well in the two days, part way through, the con removed copies of his book, and the readers who went in the afternoon were all empty-handed and could not buy the book. I took four customers everywhere to look for books, but none of the exhibition staff had any explanation or follow-up.
The lack of communication was also reflected in the coordination of volunteers. The organizing committee announced the recruitment of volunteers through different processes more than once. I submitted forms and emails twice, stating that my specialty was Japanese and that I could be a volunteer, but there was no response to any emails from the beginning to the end. Many times in various groups, I encountered netizens complaining and asking me about the same situation. Later, I learned that the government had arranged a bidding process for volunteer service projects [1], and the volunteers and training procedures were determined through other methods. [Emphasis added]
On the opening day of the conference on October 18, 2023, we passed by the venue and found that the newly established ‘food truck area’ at the Nebula Campground (renovated from dozens of buses) at the Science Museum and Sheraton Road was blocked off. and not open to the public. The news circulating in our group was that “the food in the food trucks was not classy and would affect the image” and therefore it was cancelled.
Security was intrusive, books mysteriously disappeared, the government took over the volunteer organization, and food trucks were banned for not being “classy.” Conventions are always a tug-of-war between the venue and the organizers, but it sounds as if the venue and the Chengdu government completely took over and the fans never stood a chance.
It could have been worse. I haven’t heard of anyone being detained or prevented from returning home.
Update: A report says attendance was about 20,000, the highest ever for a Worldcon. I haven’t seen a breakdown by country of origin but suppose that the large majority were from China.