The Lure of Techno-uchronia: Collective Time Travel and Industrial Fantasy in Illumine Lin’gao

Time-travel-themed web novels have thrived in China for over two decades. A recent trend sees a group of individuals journeying together from the near future to an ancient dynasty, which raises significant questions about the role of modern technology in regenerating traditional societies, both constructively and disruptively. Illumine Lin’gao (臨高啟明, 2009-) is a landmark work created through collective authorship and recognized as the longest-running serialized web novel in China. The story features over five hundred twenty-first-century Chinese people traveling back to the late Ming dynasty in 1628 to establish an industrialized society. This article explores collective time travel as a narrative innovation and the role of technology in facilitating an anachronic industrialization process, wherein colonial and gender issues are downplayed. While the narrative offers an enchanting vision of egalitarianism, prioritizing collective welfare over individual success, it also contradicts itself by internalizing the ideologies of colonialism and male chauvinism. In responding to Joseph Needham’s question, “Why did modern science develop in Europe rather than in China?”, the novel envisions an early industrial revolution in pre-modern China, reflecting a problematic yearning for a techno-uchronia.