China Mountain Zhang

China Mountain Zhang
	Cover of 1993 Tor paperback edition
Author	Maureen F. McHugh
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	March 1992
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	313
Awards	James Tiptree Jr. Award; Lambda Literary Award; Locus Award;
ISBN	0-312-85271-1
OCLC	24670648
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 20
LC Class	PS3563.C3687 C48

China Mountain Zhang is a 1992 science fiction novel by American writer Maureen F. McHugh. The novel is made up of several stories loosely intertwined. The novel was nominated for multiple major awards, including the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and won the Locus Award for Best First Novel.

Title

The novel's title derives from the name of the protagonist, a young gay man of mixed Chinese and Hispanic ancestry who goes by the name Rafael Zhang in non-Chinese contexts and Zhang Zhongshan in Chinese contexts. His Chinese given name, "Zhongshan", is written with the characters that have the primary meanings "center" and "mountain"; the Mandarin name for China also begins with the character meaning "center" or "middle". Thus, "China Mountain" is an alternate reading of his Chinese given name. As the novel explains, "Zhongshan" was one of the given names used by the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, for whom the character is named.

Plot summary

The main story involves a man's maturation in a future dominated by China, where the United States has undergone a Second Great Depression, a Communist revolution and then a "Cleansing Winds Campaign" that resembled the Chinese Cultural Revolution. His personal evolution is paralleled in four interwoven side stories following characters progressing from outsiderdom to finding places in society.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

The backdrop is a 22nd-century in which the Chinese Communist regime dominates the world. The novel is slightly unusual for science fiction in that none of the characters cause any significant change in the world around them; nor does it use any standard science fiction tropes.^[1]

The New York Times said of the book when it first appeared: "A first novel this good gives every reader a chance to share in the pleasure of discovery; to my mind, Ms. McHugh's achievement recalls the best work of Samuel R. Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson without being in the least derivative."^[2]

Connections to other works

McHugh's short story "Protection" is set in the same future history as China Mountain Zhang, detailing the experiences of a petty criminal in a "Reform Through Labor" camp in Kansas under the future Communist system.

Awards and nominations


Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
1993	James Tiptree Jr. Award	-	Won	^[3]
	Lambda Literary Award	Gay Men's Science Fiction/Fantasy	Won	^[4]
	Hugo Award	Novel	Nominated	^[5]
	Locus Award	First Novel	Won	^[6]
	Locus Award	Science Fiction Novel	24th	^[6]
	Nebula Award	Novel	Nominated	^[7]
1999	Gaylactic Spectrum Awards	Hall of Fame	Inducted	^[8]

References

↑ McHugh, Maureen. "The Anti-SF Novel". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
↑ Jones, Gerald (March 15, 1992). "Science Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
↑ "1992 Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. April 13, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2025. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
↑ "5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. July 14, 1993. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
↑ "1993 Hugo Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008.
1 2 "1993 Locus Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008.
↑ "1993 Nebula Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008.
↑ "1999 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009.

[1] McHugh, Maureen. "The Anti-SF Novel". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.

[2] Jones, Gerald (March 15, 1992). "Science Fiction". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2013.

[tiptree-3] "1992 Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. April 13, 2017. Archived from the original on May 23, 2025. Retrieved September 13, 2025.

[lammy-4] "5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. July 14, 1993. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2025.

[hugo-5] "1993 Hugo Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008.

[locus-6] 1 2 "1993 Locus Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008.

[nebula-7] "1993 Nebula Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008.

[gaylactic-8] "1999 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009.

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v t e Locus Award for Best First Novel
1981-1989	Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward (1981) Starship & Haiku by S. P. Somtow (1982) Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (1983) Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1984) The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson (1985) Contact by Carl Sagan (1986) The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt (1987) War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1988) Desolation Road by Ian McDonald (1989)
1990-1999	Orbital Decay by Allen Steele (1990) In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn (1991) The Cipher by Kathe Koja (1992) China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1993) Cold Allies by Patricia Anthony (1994) Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem (1995) The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata (1996) Reclamation by Sarah Zettel / Whiteout by Sage Walker (1997) The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod (1998) Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1999)
2000-2009	The Silk Code by Paul Levinson (2000) Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis (2001) Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (2002) A Scattering of Jades by Alexander C. Irvine (2003) Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (2004) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2005) Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear (2006) His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (2007) Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (2008) Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko (2009)
2010-2019	The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (2011) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2012) Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (2013) Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2014) The Memory Garden by M. Rickert (2015) The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (2016) Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2017) The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss (2018) Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (2019)
2020-present	Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2020) Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (2021) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (2022) The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2023) The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (2024) Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (2025)

v t e Otherwise Award/James Tiptree Jr. Award Winners
Retrospective winners	Motherlines and Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Female Man and "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ
1991–2000	A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason (1991, tie) White Queen by Gwyneth Jones (1991, tie) China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992) Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993) "The Matter of Seggri" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1994, tie) Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer (1994, tie) Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1995, tie) The Memoirs Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (1995, tie) "Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996, tie) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996, tie) Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997, tie) "Travels With The Snow Queen" by Kelly Link (1997, tie) "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by Raphael Carter (1998) The Conqueror's Child by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999) Wild Life by Molly Gloss (2000)
2001–2010	The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (2001) Light by M. John Harrison (2002, tie) "Stories for Men" by John Kessel (2002, tie) Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff (2003) Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2004, tie) Not Before Sundown by Johanna Sinisalo (2004, tie) Air by Geoff Ryman (2005) The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (2006, tie) Half Life by Shelley Jackson (2006, tie) James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006, special recognition) The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008, tie) Filter House by Nisi Shawl (2008, tie) Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales by Greer Gilman (2009, tie) Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (2009, tie) Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (2010)
2011–2020	Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011) The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012, tie) Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam (2012, tie) Rupetta by N. A. Sulway (2013) The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (2014, tie) My Real Children by Jo Walton (2014, tie) "The New Mother" by Eugene Fischer (2015, tie) Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz (2015, tie) When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (2016) Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin (2017) "They Will Dream in the Garden" by Gabriela Damián Miravete (2018) Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2019) Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (2020)
2021–present	Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021, tie) Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (2021, tie) [2022 and 2023: award suspended] In Universes by Emet North (2024, tie) "Kiss of Life" by P. C. Verrone (2024, tie) Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera (2024, tie) Walking Practice by Dolki Min (2024, tie) Luminous by Silvia Park (2025)