We Live in Nanjing
A science-fiction novel that aligns Nanjing in 2019 and 2040 through a radio connection tied to the same city coordinates.
Nanjing connection: The novel makes Nanjing’s real streets, distances, and terrain central to a radio connection between the city in 2019 and 2040.
Key facts
- The novel is titled 《我们生活在南京》 in Chinese and was written by Tianrui Shuofu.
- Its central characters communicate by radio between Nanjing in 2019 and Nanjing in 2040.
- Published accounts document two Nanjing research trips by 2023 and three by December 2024.
Why this matters to Nanjing
We Live in Nanjing (《我们生活在南京》) is a science-fiction novel by the writer Tianrui Shuofu. Its premise depends on Nanjing as a shared physical coordinate: high-school student Bai Yang in 2019 and nineteen-year-old Banxia in 2040 communicate by radio while occupying the same location in different times [S1][S2].
The city is therefore not interchangeable scenery. Recognizable streets, distances, water, hills, and residential space help the novel align an everyday Nanjing with a devastated future version of the same place [S1][S3][S4].
Nanjing connection
The novel’s central device joins time to geography. Critic Bei Qiao describes its radio mechanism as “time slow delivery”: communication crosses twenty-one years while the two characters remain tied to corresponding city coordinates [S3]. A 2023 interview places the story’s domestic center on Muxuyuan Avenue in the Meihuashanzhuang residential area and identifies Xinjiekou among its recognizable Nanjing references [S1].
Published accounts also document how the writer researched the setting. A 2023 publisher profile reported two trips to Nanjing, including visits to landmarks and conversations with friends about local customs, speech, and food [S2]. A December 2024 interview reported three dedicated research trips and described the use of maps, cycling, and the relationship between water and hills when selecting the novel’s principal address [S4]. The different counts are best read chronologically: the later account may record an additional visit or a correction, rather than proving that either report was inaccurate.
This is a connection through writing after field research. The reviewed sources do not establish that Tianrui Shuofu was born in Nanjing, lived there long-term, worked there, or resides there now [S1][S2].
How to read the city
- Follow the radio: communication between 2019 and 2040 turns an ordinary household technology into the bridge between two versions of Nanjing [S1][S3].
- Track repeated coordinates: streets and measured distances allow the characters’ environments to correspond even when one city is familiar and the other ruined [S1][S3].
- Notice ordinary life: school, family, food, and domestic routines give the speculative crisis a local and human scale [S2][S3].
Related pages
- Nanjing — the city whose corresponding coordinates hold the novel’s two timelines.
- “Writing from Nanjing 02 | Tianrui Shuofu: A Signal Across Two Nanjings” — ANJSO’s longer essay on field research, radio, and coordinate matching in the novel.
Note on the English title
No published English-language edition was located in the sources reviewed for this page. We Live in Nanjing is used here as a descriptive English rendering of 《我们生活在南京》, not as a verified title of an official English edition.
Sources
- S1: Chao News, “专访｜科幻作家天瑞说符：《我们生活在南京》，一场文本实验” (hosted by Tencent News), December 2, 2023.
- S2: CITIC Dafang, “频频获奖，这位95后科幻大神作家是如何炼成的” (hosted by Sohu), February 7, 2023.
- S3: Bei Qiao, “网络科幻小说新形态的叙事实践——评天瑞说符《我们生活在南京》,” Research on Chinese Contemporary Literature 2024, no. 5 (hosted by China Writers Association), October 14, 2024.
- S4: Red Star News, “专访丨‘95后’网文作家天瑞说符：最好的主角是‘普通人’” (hosted by Sina Finance), December 11, 2024.
Editorial disclosure
Drafted with AI assistance from the cited sources. Factual review and publication require human approval by the American Nanjing Society.
Sources
License: Original ANJSO synthesis, CC BY 4.0; facts cited to sources