Another Chengdu Worldcon Scandal Erupts With Three-Body Problem Editor Yao Haijun Under Investigation For Violation Of Chinese Law

Three-Body Problem editor Yao Haijun is under investigation after leading Chengdu Worldcon and being nominated twice for Hugo Awards.

Worldcon has more egg on its face because of the Chengdu China edition from 2023, where multiple scandals erupted, threatening to cripple the science fiction fandom convention. Now, one of its committee members and a Hugo Award finalist, Yao Haijun, who edited The Three-Body Problem for Science Fiction World, faces a potential threat of jail for violating Chinese law. 

The decision to put Worldcon 2023 was met with uproar when first announced, with Chinese human rights violations cited as a reason many would not attend.

Problems compounded for the convention as the Chinese government required Worldcon to vet all of its Hugo Award nominees for compliance with party guidelines. The Hugo Award committee actually took steps beyond what was expected to censor different science fiction writers preemptively, looking for reasons China would disqualify them.

One of those disqualified works was The Sandman, Neil Gaiman’s show for Netflix, which caused the embattled author to complain multiple times via Facebook about the situation. As Neil Gaiman is now under investigation for sexual misconduct with multiple women, Worldcon dodged a bullet by not giving him another award.

However, soon after, Hugo Award committee member Dave McCarty was then accused of sexual misconduct of his own and was subsequently banned from the next year’s Worldcon when he tried to attend. He would not answer Fandom Pulse’s request to comment at the time. 

Now, another scandal has opened with Yao Haijun, editor of Liu Cixin’s original serialization of Three-Body Problem for Sichuan Science Fiction World Magazine. Yao Haijun was double nominated for a Hugo Award and served on the Worldcon Chengdu committee.

A translated Chinese website stated Yao Haijun is being invested for “serious disciplinary violations.”

The site elaborated (translated), “At present, the Sichuan Provincial Disciplinary Committee Supervision and Inspection Team of the Science and Technology Department is conducting disciplinary review on it. Under the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Commission of Luzhou, the Municipal Supervisory Commission of Luzhou is conducting an investigation.

Mike Glyer at File 770 reported that he heard chatter that Yao Haijin regularly posted to a site called Weibo but has been silent since September. He was also suspiciously absent from Chinese science fiction awards, leading many to believe he’s disappeared. 

What do you think of Chengdu Worldcon and the Hugo Awards undergoing another scandal in science fiction? Leave a comment and let us know.

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