Xinhua reports that China's sci-fi industry exceeded 36.3 billion yuan ($7.8 billion AUD) in the first half of this year. It generated 55.1 billion yuan ($11.8 billion AUD) last year.

How does that compare with Australia? That's a mystery. If those figures are publicly available they're not easy to find.

A Xinhua article from a previous year on the same topic included an intriguiging claim from the government / university report.

Games, movies and television account for most of this money but emerging technologies - virtual reality, artificial intelligence and biotechnology - are expected to "enrich new and existing forms of sci-fi".

AI and VR we'd all be familiar with, but biotechnology? What are the Chinese doing with their sci-fi?

[ Main Image: Shanghai Fortress. Credit: Netflix. ]

References

Xinhua. (November 3, 2019) China's sci-fi industry exceeds 30 bln yuan in H1.

Xinhua. (September 29, 2021) China's sci-fi industry exceeds 36 bln yuan in H1.