Chinese science fiction writer Hao Jinfang, 32, has won the 2016 Hugo Award for best novelette for her work, "Folding Beijing," a troubling tale about life in future Beijing split by social classes.
Her novelette, written in Chinese, was translated into English by Ken Liu, a famous American science fiction and fantasy writer and translator of science fiction and literary stories from Chinese into English. The story was published in 2015 by the online magazine, Uncanny.
"I hope the real future will be brighter than my story," said Hao, who hails from Tianjin.
She said she wasn't confident about winning and joked that she had been planning to attend the Hugo losers' party after the ceremony.
"Sci-fi writers always consider all possibilities," she said.
In her novelette, Beijing is divided into three different physical layers: one for the elite, middle class and underclass.
Hao began writing science fiction stories after graduating with a degree in physics from Tsinghua University in 2006. She currently works for the China Development Research Foundation.
Hao's victory makes her the second Chinese citizen to win in The Hugo Awards, a set of awards given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year.
Another Chinese science fiction writer, Cixin Liu, 53, won a Hugo in 2015 for Best Novel for his bestseller, The Three-Body Problem, the first in a trilogy. Liu's work, also written in Chinese, was also translated into English by Ken Liu.
The Three-Body Problem is also the first translated novel in history to win the honor for Best Novel.
A multi-awarded sci-fi writer, Ken Liu won a Hugo in 2013 for his short story, "Mono no aware." His short story, "The Paper Menagerie," is the first work of fiction, of any length, to win the Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
Caixin Liu said he was proud of the success of Nobel laureate Mo Yan and Cao Wenxuan, who on Aug. 20, became the first Chinese to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's literature in New Zealand.
Liu, the first Asian to win a Hugo, believes the growing global acceptance of Chinese science-fiction stories is thanks to experienced translators such as Ken Liu.