Reading Into the Mountains: Exploring China’s Sacred Daoist Peaks by teacher, author and ordained Daoist Debra Liu (@_deb177_). Liu was ordained at the Evergreen Daoist Temple in Brisbane, the largest Daoist place of worship in the Southern Hemisphere. Her ordained Daoist name is “Virtue Grace”. (Note: “Daoist” is traditionally spelled as “Taoist”.)
While exploring the author’s website, I discovered Liu’s writing about the masterpiece A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains by Chinese painter Wang Ximeng (https://debraliu.com/daoist-artists-painters-and-poets/a-thousand-miles-of-rivers-and-mountains/). Coincidently, I also dedicated some time studying this painting back in 2024.
It all started with Chinese author Hai Ya winning the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for his story “The Space-Time Traveller”. I wrote an analysis of the story for the online journal Speculative Insight in December 2024. Here is an introduction by editor Alexandra Pierce:
This month’s essay looks at the 2023 Hugo Novelette winner, Hai Ya’s ‘The Space-Time Painter’, not translated into English as far as I (and the author of the essay, Christine Yunn-Yu Sun) know. This essay aims to discuss the story’s details, explain its connection to Chinese history and art, and put it in a wider science fictional context. Hai Ya’s story uses a significant period in the 11th century AD, and in particular two spectacular pieces of art, as central pillars of the narrative. Sun explores how Hai Ya uses those within his story of ghosts and apparent time travel.
You can find my essay – and other non-fiction writings that are accessible to a general audience – on the Speculative Insight website (https://www.speculativeinsight.com/).
Special Note: Speculative Insight: Year 1, which includes 26 essays seeking to “explore the breadth and depth of the themes, ideas, and issues of science fiction and fantasy”, won the Convenors’ Award at the 2024 Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Speculative Fiction (https://aurealisawards.org/2025/05/04/2024-aurealis-awards-winners/). My belated congratulations to @speculativeinsight for this achievement!
(Day 5 #WarmWinterRead #WWR25 via @librarieschangelives)
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 